Mega Man Cross
by MEGAMANX411
Summary: [COMPLETE] Mega Man X and Zero are lost in another dimension, and try to find their way back. But is there more to this adventure than they know? Inspired by the game Chrono Cross crossed with Mega Man X. Rated T for violence, mild language.
1. So It Begins

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 1  
"_So it begins_"  
By MEGAMANX411

Disclaimer: This fan fiction is a cross-over between Mega Man X and Chrono Cross, hence the title: Mega Man Cross. Although the story will essentially follow Chrono Cross (to a certain degree, it won't be exact), I will make some changes. First and foremost, X and Zero will play the lead roles as the two main heroes. Second, the characters that appear in Chrono Cross will be reploids, not human, save for one (not all of the characters will be used). Also, the storyline will have many similarities, but it won't be exactly the same. I will try my best to try to stay somewhat true to the game, however, I will still try to integrate Mega Man X elements as well as possibly some other ideas. However, I won't deal with all the Chrono Cross characters, just some. So...I hope that clearssome thigns up, andwithout further ado, here goes.

Mega Man X entered a room with four other people. Zero, and three other unfamiliar reploids.The place was large and ornate, and certainly appeared beautiful in terms of arhcitecture. But something bothered X. He couldn't understand why he was there.

"Oi! You're gonna get it now Lynx! Better say yer prayers..not that it'll do ya any good!" the reploid girl boasted.

X just ignored what was going on and continued. He couldn't tell what was going on, and what was real. He just knew that hew was there, and somehow, he felt as though something in this whole ordeal was real. Or at least had some amount of truth to it.

The main thing that puzzled X was that he couldn't seem to hear anyone else talk. He saw their mouths move, but he only heard that one reploid girl speak once. There wasn't much he could do about it, however. X and the rest entered what appeared to be a teleporter, and that brought them to a small blue room.

Located in the middle of it was a very beautiful artifact..it looked as though it were a piece of fire frozen, but it appeared so incredibly beautiful that it was difficult to look away. Before X knew it, his vision blurred, and suddenly he was bombarded by violent images. He saw his friends reduced to bloody heaps on the floor. He then saw the image of himself...smiling at their demise, apparently coated in their blood.

"Ah!" X shouted, waking himself up.

X was still in Maverick Hunter base. Apparently, he just had a little nightmare. He was rather fatigued from all the fighting all day, and he definitely disliked his line of work, so he reasoned that his little dream was merely stemmed from his own distaste for violence.

Mega Man X sighed deeply as he took a seat in the lounge at Maverick Hunter HQ. He had a very long and exhausting day, and just wanted some rest. Fighting against rengeade reploids all day and dealing with the occasional fanatical human wasn't something X enjoyed as a means of recreation. X stretched out his legs, and then grabbed a nearby glass of water.

"Long day, eh?" a voice teased.

"Hey Zero," X replied.

Zero, the red reploid, sat down beside X. He stretched out as well.

"Man, I haven't had a day like that in while. Sure was pretty busy," Zero observed.

"Yeah, but I think we've had worse, heh.." X replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"You got a point there," Zero muttered.

All of the sudden, a voice came through the comlink system in the lounge.

"X and Zero, please report to the navigation room immediately," the voice commanded.

"It never ends," X muttered.

"Heh, loosen up a little..it could be fun," Zero teased.

X followed Zero into the navigation room where they found a very befuddled looking Alia.

"Is something wrong Alia?" X asked, craning his neck to see the computer monitor.

"It's nothing like an attack or anything..I'm just getting a very odd signal on the monitor," Alia replied.

"Odd like how? What do you mean?" Zero asked, now becoming a bit curious.

"Is it related to Sigma somehow?" X asked.

"I don't know...I don't think so, anyway," Alia replied.

"So what is it?" X asked.

"Here, take a look," Alia offered, bringing up the image onto the larger overhead monitor.

At a map of the nearby area, there was a strange accumulation of energy at one focused point. When Alia zoomed in on this spot, she analyzed the energy symbol to be similar to that of a funnel. It sucked inwards,but only the portion going out did not appear in the same plane of existence or timestream.

"What does that mean?" X asked, scratching his head.

Alia began to furiously type on they keyboard to try and further her analysis.

"From the looks of it..it's not actually emitting energy, but devoid of it," Alia replied.

"No energy? So why is it emitting a signal?" Zero asked.

"Well, because the energy it's emitting isn't located there, but it is," Alia answered.

"That doesn't make one bit of sense Alia," Zero muttered.

"You see, the funnel there is a wormhole of sorts..or at least it appears to be. And it apparently ends up in the same location, but not in this dimension," Alia replied.

"Now you've completely lost me.."Zero muttered, hanging his head low.

"Hm..this is really weird. How did this just appear?"X asked.

"I'm not quite sure. Whatever the reason, I think we should stay away from it," Alia reasoned.

"Maybe Sigma went through it himself though?" Zero replied.

"That could be the case...I mean, he may have found it already if we did," Alia added.

"I think we should go investigate. There are no assignments now, so there isn't much harm in doing so," X reasoned.

"Just be careful you two..we can't afford to have our two best hunters gone for a substantial amount of time," Alia replied.

"Don't worry Alia, we'll be just fine. Coming X?" Zero asked.

"Yeah, let's go. Take care Alia," X replied.

With that out of the way, X and Zero went to investigate this strange phenomenon. It appeared as if there was a virtual tear in the very fabric of existence before them, like the space there was distorted.

"Now this is really weird.." X muttered.

"What if this thing grows?" Zero asked.

"I don't know what'll happen..." X replied.

X then noticed that several of the small rocks located near the tear where gradually being pulled into it.

"Zero look..I think that thing has some kind of gravitational pull to it," X reasoned.

"So what do we do? Just report this to base, or do we see what's on the other side?" Zero asked.

"I don't know..." X replied.

"I say we go for it. Knowing Sigma, he may have already beaten us here," Zero reasoned.

"You may be right..ok, let's go," X replied, nodding his head.

Both X and Zero reluctantly walked closer to the dimensional tear, and stuck their hands out. As soon as it drew close enough, they could feel themselves being sucked into it, and couldn't pull themselves out!

"Guess there's no turning back now!" Zero shouted.

X and Zero blacked out as they were sucked into the void. But X was still conscious, or at least he thought he was. He entered a dream state, and before him, he saw a figure of a humanoid feline creature before him.

"_Come to me..the assassin of time! The Chrono Trigger_!" the figure hissed.

"What did you say?" X shouted.

X hadn't realized that he not only woke himself up from this supposed dream, but he also shouted that last question aloud.

"What are you talking about X?" Zero asked, rubbing his head.

X rubbed his head as well, and struggled to his feet.

"Agh..just a dream I guess..it was nothing, don't worry about it," X replied.

"Man, where are we?" Zero asked, taking a look around.

The area looked nothing like it did before. It was covered in tropical looking trees, and there was water almost everywhere.

"I have no clue...let's try contacting Alia," X reasoned.

X opened up a computer panel on his arm, and tried to establish a connection with Maverick Hunter HQ. No such luck.

"I can't get a signal here," X muttered.

"So we're cut off from base?" Zero asked.

"Looks that way," X replied.

"Well..let's just head back the way we came," Zero reasoned.

X and Zero turned around, but the supposed dimensional rift wasn't there.

"This is where we arrived, right?" X asked.

"Yeah...at least I think so, I don't remember anything else about that trip," Zero replied.

"What are our options now?" X asked.

"Damn...looks like we'll have to investigate the matter a little futher. Maybe a local city would have some stronger communications," Zero reasoned.

"Let's hope so," X replied.

Suddenly, a blue and white reploid wielding some kind of energy axe appeared and blocked their way. He was a humanoid reploid, a bit bulky and musucular looking, and appeared to have long flowing blue hair. He wasn't downright big, but he had a rather strong looking build. Zero, of course, payed little attention to this individual.

"Move aside," Zero commanded.

"Hm...what do you know? He's here, just like he said he would," the figure muttered.

X's eyes widened when he saw that the figure was gesturing to him.

"What..who, me?" X asked. "And who are you?"

"My name is Karsh. You, my dead friend, aren't supposed to exist," Karsh replied.

X rubbed his head and shrugged his shoulders.He couldn't understand what this guy was babbling about. He turned to Zero to hear his opinion on the matter.

"What the heck is this guy talking about Zero?" X asked.

"I have no clue..but he's obviously got some bad information," Zero replied.

Karsh tightened his grip on his axe, and narrowed his eyes at X and Zero.

"I have orders to bring you back with me. Don't bother resisting," he mocked.

Zero smirked, and slowly drew his saber.

"You think you can take both of us?" he asked.

All of the sudden, a female humanoid child-like reploid leaped out and stood beside X and Zero. The reploid didn't appear very big, perhaps a little more than half X's height. She had short blonde hair, and she wore green and red armor. She apparently wielded energy daggers as her weapons.

"Hey! Leave them alone! Or I'll kick yer arse so hard you'll kiss the moon!" the reploid shouted, apparently sounding quite crude.

Karsh shook his head, apparently not very impressed with the little reploid girl's presence.

"Don't get in the way brat. Or I'll exterminate you too," he threatened.

X, Zero, and this mystery reploid engaged Karsh in a fight. Karsh started things off with a swing of his axe, which knocked Zero out of the way. Zero wasn't one to be down for long, however, so he quickly regained his composure. The unknown reploid took this opportunity to jump on Karsh's back, and pulled out an energy dagger. Before Karsh could throw the reploid off, the dagger struck his shoulder.

X used his X-Buster to follow up on the attack, but Karsh dodged it, and retaliated by throwing his axe at X. Zero knocked it down with his saber, and the unknown reploid threw her dagger at Karsh. He was hit by it, and gave them an angry glare. Although Karsh certainly wasn't defeated, he was becoming quite annoyed.

"This is merely a minor setback. I'll be back for you later," he threatened.

"Serves ya right!" the mystery reploid shouted.

Karsh teleported away, leaving X and Zero there with the mystery reploid. X slowly approached her and extended a hand.

"Thank you very much..but um..who are you, anyway?" X asked.

"You can call me Kid," Kid replied.

Zero blinked heavily when he heard the name from the rather obnoxious child.

"Kid?" Zero asked.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Kid asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No, it's just that you seem a little on the violent side for such a little girl.." X muttered.

"Whatever. Well, those chumps seem to be after you, and I have a bone to pick with them, so I'll join up with you," Kid replied.

Zero rolled his eyes.

"Ok..but who are they, exactly? And what do you mean, 'a bone to pick'?" he asked.

"Karsh there is one of the Acacia Dragoons, elite warrior class reploids. There's a city called Termina up ahead, that's probably where he came from. Maybe we can get some info on how to get into Viper Mansion, where the other Dragoons are. And, maybe we can find out why they're chasing you," Kid replied.

"But why do you want to help us?" X asked.

"I told you, I have a problem with those Dragoons..alright? I can't stand seein' blokes like that pick on innocent people," Kid answered.

"Alright, alright, take it easy," Zero replied.

"So how do we get to Termina?" X asked.

"Follow me, I'll show you," Kid replied.

With that, X and Zero followed Kid along aseemingly neglected old trail.

"Are you sure about this?" Zero asked.

"I'm always sure, come on!" Kid shouted.


	2. The Secret Entrance

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 2  
"_The secret entrance_"  
By MEGAMANX411

"You know, I'm pretty new to these islands meself," Kid commented.

"Is that right?" Zero asked, trying to sound mildly amused.

"It gets rather lonely travelin' alone..so how about we become mates?" Kid asked.

"Sure, whatever," Zero replied.

"Don't you try anything funny just 'cuz I'm cute an' all!" Kid teased.

While Kid and Zero continued their conversation (which mostly consisted of Kid's teasing and Zero's muttering), X remained silent.

As Kid, Zero, and X drew closer to Termina, X fell into deep thought. He placed his hand on his chin as he pondered why he had that dream. Why did that..thing call him the assassin of time? Why did it call him the Chrono Trigger? What is the Chrono Trigger? He couldn't figure it out.

And there was something else that bothered him. Kid, to be precise.She looked exactly like the reploid girl he saw in his dream awhile back.Did it mean something? Did he manage to predict his own future, or was he just going crazy? Or maybe it was simply a coincidence? Or maybe he had met Kid previously and forgotten her? He didn't know for sure.

"You ok?" asked Zero.

X quickly shook his head to free himself from his train of thought, and looked back at Zero with an innocent guise.

"Uh..yeah, I'm fine, it's nothing," X replied, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment.

"What's with ya anyway?" Kid asked, keeping her seemingly natural obnoxious attitude.

"He said don't worry about it, so there's nothing to worry about. Let's keep going," Zero commanded, obviously becoming a bit annoyed with Kid's behavior.

When they finally reached the city of Termina, X and Zero were amazed at the size of it. It was a veritable metropolis full of humans and reploids.

"Well X, let's try to find a communication tower. Maybe we can get a powerful enough signal to reach home," Zero offered.

"Hey wait, I thought ya were going to help me with those dragoons?!" Kid shouted.

Zero rolled his eyes, and obviously didn't care for Kid's attitude.

"Look, we don't care about them, because when we get home, they won't be an issue for us," Zero replied.

"You don't care that they're after you? You don't care why? I helped ya outy'know, " Kid answered.

Zero narrowed his eyes and seemed to take the role of an annoyed parent talking to a bratty child.Several of the nearby civilians glanced over and assumed that Zero must have been Kid's father.They could be right in assuming so from the looks of it.

"If we're no longer here, that won't matter. Come on X, let's go," Zero muttered.

X didn't really say anything, but quickly followed Zero. Kid followed behind them. Her pace wasn't particularly stealthy, so X and Zero could easily detect her. But they didn't believe she was trying to sneak around.

"Why are you following us?" Zero asked.

"It's not like I have anything better to do," Kid replied.

"Don't you have any friends or family to look after you?" X asked.

"Nope," Kid replied bluntly, crossing her arms.

"I'm..sorry to hear that," X replied, looking down.

Zero shrugged his shoulders and sighed.

"Come on X, let's get going," he repeated.

The nearby communication tower was an absolutely enormous building. It wasn't particularly wide, it was rather slim, but just very tall. Hence the tower title, or at least that's what most everyone assumed.The building obviously had a communicating dish on top (coupled with a receiver in the case of incoming transmissions), so a lot of the size came from purely the function of the tower as opposed to actual room for people inside the building.

With that, Zero and X entered the communication tower, they hastily climbed the stairs to reach the top level; the navigation room. Zero nodded to X, and gestured for him to head over to the computer console.X tried to enter the coordinatesof Maverick Hunter HQ. X's fingers typed on the console furiously, and the computer's menu screens were virtually littered with inputed information. However, after the coordinates were put into the search engine, bright red letters came across the screen reading: "Search Inconclusive." The search was consistently inconclusive on every attempt.

"How can this be?" Zero shouted.

Zero slammed his fist on the console, and took a deep breath. He was clearly agitated. X, in the meantime, was reading over the inputed data trying to assess the situation. He couldn't come up with much.

"The coordinates are correct..they just aren't showing up," X replied, scratching his head.

"Should we try the teleportation system?" Zero asked.

Zero shot a look back at the teleporter. He had used the one at Maverick Hunter HQ a lot, so he knew that they came in handy when his internal teleporation systems couldn't assist him. X shrugged, and didn't think much could go wrong either.

"I guess it's worth a shot," X replied.

Zero entered the teleporting device, while X manned the computer and entered the destination code. The teleporter made a rather loud hissing sound as it released pressure and activated. The lights located around it began to glow as it surged with power, and a faint light encompassed Zero.

However, before the teleporation commenced, a red light went off. Suddenly, a rather mundane computer-recorded message came through the intercom.

"Teleportation process...cancelled. Destination invalid. Have a nice day."

Zero sighed loudly and stepped back out of the teleporter.

"Damn..that doesn't work either..do we at least have some way of confirming a way back home, or at least finding something of interest here?" Zero asked, crossing his arms.

X looked back at the computer panel, and began to type faster.

"I'm not quite as skilled as Alia is at this..but I'm trying my best. I've typed in almost every keyword we have on Sigma, but this computer doesn't seem to have any record of him. So if he's here, he hasn't made himself known yet. And unfortunately, I can't seem to find any dimensional tears like the one we found earlier," X muttered.

"Yeah, you would think dimensional portals would be more common," Zero replied sarcastically.

X narrowed his eyes and gave Zero a rather annoyed look.

"That doesn't help Zero. I'll keep trying.." X muttered.

"Just keep at it..there has to be something," Zero replied.

"You know, this computer system may just be to weak. It is possible that they simply haven't updated their database and they're running on an old system," X explained.

"It's possible..." Zero muttered.

X turned the computer off, and sighed.

"So what now?" he asked.

"Well, let's look at what we got. First of all, we're in a place we know nothing about," Zero began.

"Second, we have some unkown reploids coming after us," X added.

"Third, we have no idea how to get back home," Zero added, becoming increasingly annoyed.

"And last, you have to help me out," Kid commented, entering the room.

"Listen here, we're not really in the mood to play games. We have to figure out a way back home," Zero replied.

"I know that ya dunce. I'm just sayin' that you may as well investigate this..'sides, you have to be a little curious that these dragoons somehow knew you'd be around," Kid replied.

"She does have a point.." X muttered.

"Alright, alright, so where to now?" Zero asked.

"Well, I guess that makes us mates!" Kid replied happily.

"That's wonderful, but where now?" Zero asked bluntly.

"Hmph..well, we have to enter Viper Mansion, their headquarters," Kid answered.

"And how exactly do we enter? I doubt they'll just let anyone in from the sounds of it," Zero replied.

"Well, there are quite a few rumors floating around Termina about a secret entrance," Kid explained.

"So maybe we could fish for a little information here to try to find out where this entrance is?" X asked.

"That's not a lot to go by," Zero muttered.

"But it is better than nothing I guess," X replied.

Zero and X looked at each other, and shrugged their shoulders. There really wasn't much else they could do at the moment, so they decided to at least put their effort into the task at hand. When they walked back out into the light of the busy day, X happened to notice a rather gargantuan poster plastered on the wall.

"What the heck is this?" X asked, pointing to the poster.

"Must be for a local attraction," Zero observed.

The poster apparently depicted some kind of band that was supposed to be playing.

"That reminds me...I heard tha' the lead member of that band has gone missin'..." Kid commented.

"And this has to deal with our situation how?" Zero asked.

Kid pouted and gave Zero a hard gaze.

"I'm gettin' to that, sheesh...anyway, I heard that he's supposed to know how to get into Viper Mansion," Kid replied.

"That's great..but if he's missing, how are we supposed to find him?" X asked.

Zero pointed back at the poster.

"Look at this..maybe we could ask the rest of his band. They're probably hanging around town somewhere," Zero commented.

"That must be it over there!" Kid shouted, pointing to a rather elaborate hotel building.

There were securtiy guards posted all around the area, and several of them didn't look like they were ready to let anyone through.

"Just great..how do we get in now?" X asked.

"We could just smash through 'em..they don't look very tough to me at all," Zero replied, an arrogant smirk appearing on his face.

"No Zero, no fighting..let's try to think of a better plan," X replied.

"I got it!" Kid shouted, darting past the two hunters.

Zero slapped his face in disgust, and then sighed deeply.

"I really wish we could just ditch her," Zero muttered.

"What's the matter Zero, having some girl troubles?" X teased, smiling.

Zero wheeled himself around, and got straight in X's face.

"What did you say?!" he shouted.

"Yeesh..sorry," X replied.

"You guy's comin' or what?" Kid asked.

Kid was apparently at the side of the building, scaling it from there. Zero and X both darted over quickly, and followed her lead. When they both reached the top, they dropped down to the balcony, and slowly opened the door.

Inside there was a red female reploid, apparently in distress about something. She nervously paced back and forth. However, her nervousness was a little more like fright when she saw several strangers enter her room.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" she shouted.

"Easy, easy..we're not here to hurt you. We just want to talk to the lead guitarist of this band," X replied.

"You mean Niki?" the female reploid replied, her eyes widening with what everyone assumed to be surprise.

"Uh..yeah. Do you have any idea where we can find him?" Zero asked.

"Unfortunately, he's been missing for almost the entire day, and I have no idea where he is. We can't start the show without him either," the reploid answered.

"Where did you see him going last?" X asked.

"I know that he sometimes heads to the Shadow Forest...some people went to look for him, but didn't find him..are you going to look for him too?" the female reploid asked.

"Yeah, we are. Well..Shadow Forest is the best lead we have so we may as well go for that," Zero muttered.

"Thank you...but who are you?" the reploid asked.

"I'm X. The red one is Zero and the little girl is Kid. Don't worry, we'll help get Niki back..and who might you be?" X asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Miki, I'm the lead dancer for the band. If you could get him back, I'd be eternally grateful to you all," Miki replied.

"Sure thing, we have other business there anyway. Ok, let's get going," Zero commanded.

"And don't worry about the security, I'll tell them to let you through," Miki added.

As Zero, X, and Kid strolled out of the room, the majority of the security guards just stared at them in awe because of how easily they slipped past. Kid walked with evident pride of her stealthy abilities, whereas X was somewhat embarassed.

Soon, they reached the outskirts of the town and the entrance of the Shadow Forest....


	3. Entering Viper Mansion

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 3  
"_Entering Viper Mansion_"  
By MEGAMANX411

X slowly stepped into the decaying forest. Although it had been called that, it appeared to be much more like a swamp than anything else. The trees were withered and distorted, and looked as though they had all had some demonic edge to them. There were pools of water everywhere, but the water was dark and murky, not fresh and clean. The grass and other plant life were all equally hideous.

"Nice forest.." Kid muttered.

For once, Zero and Kid found themselves in agreement. As Kid slowly walked forward with caution, taking the time to takea look at the deceased plantlife, Zero made sure to keep a close eye on her. There was no telling what hideous beasts lived in this sad excuse of a forest.

"Yeah..the name is a bit misleading.." Zero added, taking the time to survey the decaying area.

"Well, let's get going. We have to find Niki," X replied.

Zero shrugged. He knew that X was right, but why would someone want to come to this godforsaken place?

"Yeah..why the heck would he be here anyway?" Zero asked.

X shrugged in response, and then began to scan the immediate area. He didn't really know why anyone would want to come here, but he figured if he did, he must have had some form of reason. X wasn't a very judgemental person, so he wouldn't be too presumptuous.

"I'm not really sure, to be honest," X replied. "Maybe he's doing it for some form of artistic expression or to gain artistic inspiration?"

Zero rolled his eyes. For the sake of art was not really an answer he enjoyed hearing, but he had nothing better to do, and this Niki person apparently knew how to enter Viper Mansion.

"Eh, whatever the case, we have to find him. Let's keep going," Zero responded, keeping his hand tightly gripped on his saber.

X, Zero, and Kid walked deeper into the supposed forest, not too sure of where they were supposed to find this Niki.And they were still very cautious about the rumored entrance to Viper Mansion, as well as the Acacia Dragoons. As they delved deeper into the forest, they saw a reploid stumbling around.

He appeared rather lanky, with dark blue and black armor. He had long red hair, and had what seemed to be a guitar on his back.He stumbled around aimlessly, as if he was not walking around on his own power.

"That must be him.." X observed, pointing to who he assumed was Niki.

Zero's eyes widened as he saw the lanky figure. He was a bit odd, and certainly out of place. He had a pretty scrawny frame, but was about the same height as Zero. His long red hair couldn't begin to compare to Zero's blonde locks, but they were pretty massive nonethelss. Overall, he looked pretty similar.

"Yeah..he looks like he's had one too many," Zero replied.

Before they had a chance to assess the situation further, they saw a group of strange creatures ambush Niki. Each creature was pretty short in height, perhaps only three feet or so, but they had long claws and long sharp teeth. Each one snarled viciously, and threatened to devour the rock guitarist.

"We have to help him! Come on!" X shouted, running towards the inevitable skirmish.

Zero wasn't one to be left behind in a feet, so he quickly rushed after X. He almost forgot about Kid first, however, so he made sure to include her as well. She had proven to him she could fight, so he wasn't too worried about her.

"Come on Kid!" Zero shouted, grabbing Kid by the arm, and following after X.

"Oi! I'm comin', I'm comin', hold yer horses!" Kid shouted.

First, Niki pulled out his guitar, and adjusted some knobs on it. He then looked at one of the monsters, and dashed at it. The monster lunged back at him, but Niki leaped over him, bashed him over the head with his guitar, and then played a screeching high note on the instrument close to the monster's ears.

The four monsters screamed out in agony, and clutched their heads to try and prevent the sound from piercing their ears any more. X followed up on Niki's offensive by blasting another one of the monsters, not killing it, but wounding it. The creature fell backwards in pain, and clutched its burnt flesh. It opted not to fight anymore, and simply ran off.

Zero also took the opportunity to unleash his saber on another mosnter. He quickly flicked his wrist and slashes one monster across the eyes, not killing it, but blinding it. He then punted it hard, and sent it flying back into the swamp. Kid, on the other hand, made short work of the last monster by tackling it hard, then picking it up and throwing it off in the distance.

Zero looked on wide-eyed at Kid, and a sweat-drop appeared on his forehead. He had assumed she was tough for her apparent age and size, but man, that was a massive display of power if he had ever seen one.

"Wow...she's stronger than she looks.." he observed, putting his saber away.

X, in the meantime, went over by Niki. He made the assumption that this person was in fact Niki, but he wanted to make sure. After all, if it wasn't, then he'd be back to square one.

"Are you Niki?" X asked.

"Yes, I am.Thanks for rescuing me," Niki replied.

Both Niki and X breathed a sigh of relief, apparently both for different reasons.Niki almost fell victim toa pack of crazed beasts, whereas X had finally found the person who could give him the information he required.

"Ah, good..and it's no problem, besides, your friend wants you to come back to Termina," X answered.

Niki's eyes widened. He instantly knew who X was referring to.

"You mean Miki?" Niki asked.

X nodded back in confirmation. He had that little discussion out the way, but something still bothered him. Namely, why Niki was out here in the first place.

"Yeah. Why were you out here anyway?" X asked.

"I'm not too sure, to be honest. I just stumbled out here once when I didn't realize it, and I've come back several times. I've come out here sometimes to think, but recently, I've been drawn to this place," Niki replied.

X shrugged.The answer wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but he figured that it was of little consequence. But he then remembered the main reason for wanting to find Niki--trying to get into Viper Mansion.

"Well...we were wondering if you knew how to enter Viper Mansion. That was the other reason we wanted to find you," X answered.

Niki nodded, and then slung his guitar over his shoulder.He ran his hand through his hair as he talked.

"Yeah, actually. I came out here to find it myself. It's a little further down the swamp. I can guide you there if you'd like," Niki replied.

"Thanks Niki," X answered, smiling.

"It's no problem man, besides, you're the one who saved me. It's the least I can do," Niki replied.

Zero curiously eyed Niki, trying to see if he had some means of putting up a respectable fight, but it didn't seem like it.Niki himself was a rather scrawny looking person, so his bare fists alone wouldn't be too powerful.And the only thing he had on him was his instrument.

"If we're going to fight, just be careful, you don't seem to have any weapons by the looks of it," Zero warned.

"Actually, my guitar is more than an instrument," Niki replied.

X's eyes widened.He thought he just heard the implication that Niki's guitar was a weapon, but he couldn't quite comprehend the logic behind it.

"Come again?" X asked.

"I modified my instrument so I can produce ultra-high frequency sound-waves, and use it a weapon. It's a really killer guitar, y'know? Or I can just bash it over someone's head, either way," Niki replied.

Zero chuckled and shook his head. Using a guitar as a weapon was certainly something he'd never heard of before, and he was rather intrigued by the prospect of it.

"Heh..that's a new one. Lead the way," Zero replied.

Just then arather humongoushumanoid reploid appeared before them. His body had plain silver armor, but it appeared very bulky and gargantuan. His face was covered by his helmet (which had a little opening for his eyes), and he appeared to be almost 8 or 9 feet in height. He didn't have any obvious weapons on him, but his fists alone looked like they could be quite formidable.

"Hold it right there!" the figure boomed (Please note: In the games, this character speaks with all capital letters, but I decided that may become a nuisance).

X's eyes widened at the sight of this monolithic figure. He didn't think that getting into the secret entrance would require much brute force, hence the "secret entrance" title, but he did figure that some of the Acacia Dragoons may have planned on someone sneaking in through there.It's not like they didn't hear rumors either.

"Who are you?" X asked, steadying his buster.

The figure remained firm, and didn't budge at all.

"I am Zoah, one of the Acacia Dragoons. I am to take you into custody," Zoah shouted.

Zero narrowed his eyes at the threatening reploid before him. He looked tough, but he knew that he wasn't invincible. Zero himself was a tough customer, so he reasoned that he could take his chances with this guy. And besides, the numbers were in his favor.

"You can try," Zero replied, pulling out his saber.

Zoah charged forward, threatening to tackle the group with his large body. His weight alone would no doubt cause massive damage, so X and the rest opted to simply dodge instead of trying to stop him. X dashed around him and shot him in the back, causing Zoah to stumble foward a bit. Zoah wheeled himself around, and glared menacingly at X.

When he wasn't looking, Kid leaped on his back, and tried to bring her dagger down on his shoulder. However, Zoah grabbed her first, and held her out in front of him so she couldn't do much. When Zero saw this, he decided to intervene. After all, Zoah was practically three times Kid's size--the sheer prospect of things were anything but fair.

"Put her down!" Zero shouted.

When he heard Zero's command, Zoah turned himself around, and hurled Kid at him. Kid's little body didn't damage Zero too much, but it was still rather painful for both of them nonetheless. Zero was on the ground, with Kid on top of him.

"I told ya not to try anythin' funny!" Kid shouted, getting back up.

Zero rolled his eyes, and pushed her away. He then stood back up, and brushed himself off.

"Now's not the time!" Zero replied, rushing back at Zoah with his saber flying.

X was firing at Zoah again, but Zoah's massive momentum made him difficult to stop. So he charged X, and held him tight in his grip. However, before he had the chance to try anything else, Zero slashes him in the back. Zoah dropped X and tried to clutch his wound (of course, because of reach issues, his attempts were futile).

X dashed back around, and stood beside Kid, Zero, and Niki. Zoah was a rather big opponent, so they decided that they would need a plan to bring him down. Brute force alone wouldn't be able to stop this guy.

"You guys got a plan?" X whispered.

"Lure him into charging you again. I got a plan," Niki replied.

"Sure it'll work?" Zero asked.

"I don't like the look a' this..." Kid muttered.

"No time! He's coming back around!" X shouted.

Zoah, clearly angered by his wound, turned himself back around, and then charged again. This time, Niki stood in front, and put his guitar out in front of him. He adjusted some settings on it, and then struck a chord. The sound waves caused Zoah to stop dead in his tracks, and he then clutched his head and dropped to his knees. While he was down, X took the time to blast Zoah with a charged shot, knocking him over and out cold.

"Man..that guy was a real hassle," Niki muttered.

Niki slung his guitar over his shoulder, and let out a sigh. X then placed his hand on Niki's shoulder, and gave him an approving smile.

"Good plan on stopping him," X replied.

Niki shrugged, and gaveX a thumbs-up back.

"Yeah..who would've thought a little music would bring him down, eh?" Niki replied.

X slumped his shoulders and rolled his eyes. First it was Karsh, now it was Zoah. He seemed to be making enemies just by existing in the first place.

"Yeah..and it seems like I'm making enemies left and right wherever I go.." X muttered.

Zero, being rather preoccupied with the task at hand, thought it would be better to get back to business.

"Well, not much time for that, let's find that secret entrance," Zero responded.

Niki nodded back, and then pointed in the direction of the supposed secret entrance. However, seeing as they were just attacked by an Acacia Dragoon, it didn't seem to be so secret after all.

"Yeah, follow me, it's this way," Niki answered.


	4. Enter Marcy

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 4  
"_Enter Marcy_"  
By MEGAMANX411

X, Zero, Kid, and Niki entered the rather large estate, and were in complete awe of its sheer size. The building was positively monolithic..it must have had enough rooms to house an entire village. Not to mention how fancy everything appeared. Gold adorned many of the objects thoroughout the building, whether they be lamps or picture frames, and there were some pretty lush paintings located throughout the place.

"Oi..this place is like a goldmine.." Kid observed, notably impressed with the possible bounty before her. "And we can probably find the sacred treasure, the Frozen Flame here too."

"Don't get any ideas. We're not thieves," Zero replied bluntly.

Zero easily picked up on Kid's sentiment, and one thing he particularly didn't care for was burglarly. Common thieves, in his opinion, were filth. X, on the other hand, was rather curious about the Frozen Flame. He had heard of it, at least in his dreams. He felt as though finding it might provide some clues as how he could get back home, or at least he hoped.

"Oi! I'm just sayin'.." Kid muttered, still in awe of how fancy everything appeared.

X, on the other hand, was more preoccupied with why there were no guards or no other means of security. Sure, they had encountered Zoah by the "supposed secret" entrance, but if they knew they were coming, why didn't they set up any other means of security? X knew that if Zoah was there, they must have known about the entrance all along..meaning that the information was either not intended to be secret, or leaked in the first place.

But even if they intended for Zoah to meet them there...why didn't they take any other steps? X didn't like the looks of this one bit. Not at all.

"Hey guys..I think it's best we stay on our toes.." X muttered, gesturing for the others to get behind him.

Zero caught on to X's idea, and nodded his head in confirmation.

"Something about this doesn't seem right.." Zero added.

"Let's keep going..but just be careful," X replied.

X slowly walked forward, making sure that his boots didn't make lots of noise when they hit the floor. He cringed whenever he heard something that could be called too loud, and wanted to make sure that any negative confrontations could be avoided.

"Hey Kid.." Zero began, his voice as soft as a whisper.

"Yeah?" Kid replied, keeping her voice equally soft.

"Who do we ask for the information we want anyway?" Zero asked.

"General Viper, the leader of the Dragoons. If the Dragoons are after you, then that means he must have issued the order," Kid replied.

"But how do you know all this?" X asked.

"You come into a lot of information just by going by rumors and stuff," Kid replied.

"Eh..well, there's not much use worrying about it now," Zero replied.

X didn't like the looks of things. He scouted ahead to see if there was anyone approaching. There were some guards..and ironically enough, that made him feel somewhat relieved.

"Ah..good.." X muttered.

"What is it?" Zero asked, placing a hand on X's shoulder.

X eyed the guard's uniforms. If they could manage to knock the guards out and swipe their clothes, they could slip in and out of almost anywhere without being detected. Sure, they'd have to reveal themselves when they reached General Viper, but this way would by far more peaceful. Futhermore, X reasoned that he could negotiate peacefully with General Viper anyway. Or at least he hoped.

"Ok..I have a plan," X whispered.

X gestured for everyone to get in closer to him. He quietly orchestrated his plan out for Zero, Kid, and Niki. When they heard it, they all nodded in confirmation.

"Got it?" X asked.

"Yeah..let's go.." Zero replied, keepinga firm grip on his saber.

Niki and Zero slowly crept up on the guards from behind. Meanwhile, X and Kid quickly dashed in front of them to attract their attention.

"Who're you?!" the first guard shouted, pointing his rife at X.

X smirked, and pointed behind the guard.

"What are you pointing at?" the second guard asked, keeping his rifle steady as well.

"This," Zero answered.

Zero and Niki then bashed the guards over the head, using their respective weapons. Zero used thehandle of his saber to make sure no excessive damage was inflicted. Niki, on the other hand, bashed his guitar over the other guards head. When the other two guards turned around to face Niki and Zero, X and Kid took the opportunity to knock them out.

When the guards hit the floor dazed, X slowly began to remove their uniforms.

"Good work, now, let's get these clothes on," X whispered.

X handed uniforms to Zero, Niki, and Kid. After they put them on, they realzied that they were a pretty good fit, save for Kid..her uniform was a bit on the big side.

"Ya don't think' this'll look suspicious?" Kid asked.

"Nah, it'll be ok," Zero replied.

"Come on.We should be able to investigate easier this way. Let's head upstairs," X offered.

When they got upstairs, they saw three ways to go.

"Hmm..which way now, X?" Niki asked.

"I'm not sure..we don't really have much way of knowing. And asking for directions might be a little suspicious, considering that we're supposed to be like guards," X replied.

"Yeah...split up?" Zero offered.

"I don't know if it's a good idea for us to get separated. Let's just try one of the doors..if it's the wrong one, it won't really matter. We'll just say we're on patrol or something," X answered.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea...let's just start with left-side door," Zero offered.

With that, X, Zero, Niki, and Kid entered the room to the left, and came into a rather expansive library. There appeared to be an almost endless supply of books everywhere, and what's more, there were multiple floors of books. X also noticed that there was a little girl reploid there with an old man.

The little girl had blonde hair in pig tails, and had white armor designed to almost look like a dress. She had deep blue eyes, and rather soft features. Overall, she was rather small in stature, being a little shorter than Kid.

"So, like...what are you doin' here!? Dragoons aren't allowed up here, you know?" the girl asked, looking rather innocent.

Kid, having logic equivalent to a child obviously, reasoned that there wouldn't be much harm in revealing themselves to such an innocent looking child.

"We're not really Dragoons," Kid replied bluntly.

"Kid!" Zero muttered harshly.

The girl frowned and gave them a rathercurious look.

"What are you talkin' about?" the girl asked.

With that Kid removed her costume. Knowing that their cover was pretty much blown anyway, X, Zero, and Niki follwed suit. The girl looked rather unimpressed.

"So, like...what's your point?" the girl asked.

The old man, who was apparently reading some books on one of the upper levels, descended via elevator. He had taken notice of the girl's conversation, and was particularly interested.

"What is it, Marcy? Is someone there?" the old man asked.

The little girl, who the group now knew as Marcy, shrugged her shoulders.

"Just some weirdos," Marcy replied.

The old man looked rather interested at this turn of events, and then pressed another button. His elevator descended a bit further and he was brought to ground level with the others. He slowly and casually walkedup to X and the others.

"If you did not know you were not allowed in here...then you must not be one of our dragoons. Oh my...you must be...yes, yes...you must be X," the old man observed.

Marcy still looked rather unimpressed by this turn of events, andseemed to be rather impatient. She crossed her arms defiantly, and rolled her eyes.

"Like, can I kill 'em yet?" she asked.

X's eyes widened at her comment, and wondered just how exactly such an innocent looking child could say such a hideously evil thing. He got a pain in the pit of his stomach just thinking about it. Zero, on the other hand, was somewhat impressed by her spunk, but disapproved of her attitude. Kid didn't really like the look of things, and Niki was rather indifferent on the whole matter.

Of course, Niki's personality always made him seem indifferent. Meanwhile, the old man gave Marcy a rather annoyed expression.

"Patience child, patience! I need to have a word with these people..." the old man muttered.

Kid was also looking rather annoyed and impatient. Of course, she was rather curious as to how this old man knew X and just what his business was with him.

"Who are ya? And how do you know X?" Kid asked, sounding arrogant as usual.

The old man rubbed his chin, and then slowly closed his eyes. He bobbed his head as he thought for a minute.

"Hmmm...how do I explain...? I guess you could say I am the prophet of time. Listen carefully. The world is not just a single entity. Another world similar to ours exists in another dimension. There you will find what you might have become, a world of possibilities that might have existed, a whole history that has not been written yet...it is out there somewhere...we are simply unable to  
see, feel, or experience it," the old man replied.

X stared at the old man in pure disbelief. He didn't know whether or not he was just crazy, or maybe he himself was in a crazy world.

"You're out of your mind!" Zero shouted, finishing X's thought.

Zero was just a big a part of this as X was, or at least he assumed so. And furthermore, he was X's friend. He didn't want to see him getting messed with, especially when it came to matters like this.

"Please, let me finish. There was a point in your life when you soul, your very existence was in imminent danger. You had a fifty-fifty chance of life and death. That was when your future was split in twain. In your home world, you survived to live a happy and prosperous life. That is how you made it to the present point in time. However, here in this "alternate" world, you are, in fact, very dead and buried. You died years ago, but this world's time line has flowed on regardless. You have no place in this world...here, you are but a ghost brought back from the past! I do not know what happened to you years ago...nor can I guess what triggered your entrance into this world. The locations where such divisions in the time-space continua occur are called, "ANGELUS ERRARE" - "Where Angels Lose Their Way." It is said that, there, the borders of two dimensions fluctuate in such a way as to make the passage between the parallel realities a possibility. Perhaps in this world, you are the missing piece from a giant puzzle. And maybe, just maybe...the vacuum created by your non-existence here has drawn you across the border between the dimensions to fill the void in that puzzle. Of course, no one can say for sure. However, it appearss though these two worlds are connected by some unknown orce. Depending on the location, the two worlds influence each other in strange ways. I am quite certain there is a wormhole that connects thetwo parallel worlds..." the old man muttered.

Kid was looking rather furious herself. She either didn't want to believe this old man, or did believe him and was infuriated because of it.

"If what you say is true, and this world is an alternate reality...then why the bloody hell did X die...? The reason has to be somethin' that happened to him years ago!" Kid shouted.

The old man, who was essentially a self-proclaimed "prophet", shook his head.

"The only way for you to find out is to keep moving," the old man replied.

Marcy was becoming rather annoyed herself. She stomped her feet angrily, and pointed a finger at X and company.

"No way! I'm not going to let you leave!" she shouted.

Kid shrugged her shoulders.

"We don't have time to play with you, brat," Kid replied.

The prophet smirked and chuckled a little.

"What's so funny?" X asked.

"I would advise you not to take Marcia lightly. She is one of the four Devas, the highest ranking members of the Acacia Dragoons," he replied.

"This brat?!" Zero shouted, his eyes widening from disbelief.

Zero had never seen so many child warriors left and right. He didn't know whether to think this dimension had awful parenting skills or it conisted purely of kids in the first place.

"You are a high-ranking warrior? This place must have pretty low standards.." Zero muttered, keeping a loose grip on his saber.

"Shut up you girlie-looking blonde boy!" Marcey replied. "I'm gonna beat you silly! Get ready!"

"Hmph..let's get this over with.." Zero muttered.

With surprising strength and speed, Marcy rushed up and punched Kid in the stomach. She was caught completely off guard, and then bent over clutching her stomach. Zero took a swing at Marcy withhis fist, but she nimbly dodged it, and then did a dropkick at Niki.

Niki struggled to get back up after the little girl's surprisingly powerful attack. Zero, seeing that they were actually getting beat up by a little brat, was a little ticked off. So, he rushed up, and tried thrusting his saber at her. However, his attack suddenly stopped. Zero's attack was halted in mid-stride, and he couldn't seem to move.

But there wasn't anything holding him down. He wasn't restricted in any way..he couldn't figure it out.

"Agh..what is this?" Zero shouted.

Zero then noticed that he was covered in strings. He was being held captive by strings.

"You like it? I call it the Cat's Cradle!" Marcy replied, giggling.

Marcy then tried to manipulate Zero's movements like a puppet, but her attempts were cut short by an ear-splitting noise. It was Niki! Marcy kept a loose grip on the strings, but just tightly enough so Zero was still bound. But she could no longer manipulate him, because she seemed to be stunned temporarily.

While Marcy was dazed, Kid took the opportunity to cut a few of the strings that bound Zero. However, when Marcy regained her composure, she started to strengthen her hold.

"Tsk, tsk! I don't think so!" she shouted.

"That's quite enough," X muttered.

WhileMarcy was distracted by everything else, X took the time to get behind her. She hadn't noticed at all, and was now completely open to his attack. However, instead of using his buster to finish her, he merely smacked upside her head, knocking her out cold. She hit the ground fast, and was out like a light.

Zero, in the meantime, was still struggling to get those cursed strings off of him. He tore his way out, and then dusted himself off in disgust before muttering a few choice curse words. Being manipulated by a child was not something he was particularly fond of.

"Well, where to now dudes?" Niki asked, rubbing the back of his head.

X shrugged. The old man had apparently left, so he might have informed someone that they were there...but they only person that they knew was aware of their presence was now knocked out cold.

"Should we get back into the uniforms?" X asked.

"Ah, save it. I'm betting the old geezer probably ruined our little espionage, and besides, I prefer straight fighting to all this sneaking around," Zero replied.

"Well...let's just keep going. If the old man wasn't willing to fight against us, maybe that means General Viper isn't either. The only ones who did were the Dragoons, but they may have simply acted up," X reasoned.

"Eh..whatever the case, let's go," Zero replied.


	5. Lynx?

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 5  
"_Lynx?"_  
By MEGAMANX411

Before X and company had time to do much else, they saw another figure appear. This particular person was dressed rather oddly, almost like some kind of clown. She was a small female reploid, only a bit bigger than Kid. She had dark hair, and she wore lots of red.

"Huh!? Who the...?" Kid muttered, pointing at this new face.

The strange reploid glanced over at X, and smirked at him.

"Hmmm...you are X? You are even more sexzy zan I t'ought! Ooh la lah!" she shouted.

Kid narrowed her eyes at this strange, and seemingly perverted, reploid. Meanwhile, X was completely dumbfounded at what this new reploid had just said to him. He didn't know whether to be flattered or creeped out.

"And who the bloody hell are you!?" Kid screamed.

The reploid shrugged her shoulders, and then gave a rather uninterested look at Kid.

"And zis vulgaire one must be Kid...you disgust moi!" she replied.

"Whadja say!? If you're gonna insult someone, you should at least speak propa English!"Kid answered.

X shook his head in protest and tried to mediate. Given his nature, he thought he could at least try to bring some peace to this situation.

"Hold on, hold on. There's no need to fight. Who are you anyway?" X asked.

The reploid bowed reverently, and then gave the group a big smile.

"Je m'appelle Harle. I am ze right-hand harlequin to Monsieur Lynx. X, mon puze...if you lie down wit' a dog like zis femme, you will surely catch flez, non? I t'ink you can do much better if you gave her up! Actually, I suggest you all turn back. You should not defy him," Harle answered,

Kid looked like she was ready to beat Harle down to the ground. She looked at her furiously, and pointed a finger at her. X didn't really have a strong emotion one way or the other, and tried futilely to keep Kid under control.

"Oi!!! What's yer problem...!?" she shouted.

"Kid, calm down," X muttered.

Harle looked rather unfazed by Kid's bouts of rage, and seemed to be entirely focused on X.

"Pleaze, mon X. I would hate to see anyt'ing sad happen to you," she teased.

"I've had it up ta here with you!!!" Kid replied.

"Taisez-vous! You shut up!I am having a serious conversation with X! Why don't you mind your own buziness!" Harle answered.

Kid pulled out her daggers, and got into a fighting stance.

"THAT'S IT! Put up yer dukes! I'm gonna kick yer arse so hard, you'll kiss the moon!" Kid screamed.

"Hold on! We don't have to fight, just take it easy!" X shouted.

"You are ze one who iz going to have her derriere kicked!! Non? But alas...I cannot be caught fighting you here...imageine ze trouble I would get into. Au revoir, mon X! See you again! And X, pleaze dream of moi! Oui?" she replied.

"Wait..uh..what the..?" X muttered.

With that, Harle left, leaving the group entirely dumbfounded. X was especially confused, and was not sure what the heck just happened. Kid crossed her arms defiantly.

"Sheesh! What's her problem?" Kid muttered.

Mega Man X and company quickly left the library and headed back into the main room of the second floor. He didn't care so much about the noise this time around, and his boots clanked noisily on the floor as he ran. This time, they didn't take a long time deciding where to go. They simply headed off into the next room; the one closest to where they were.

Kid noticed that there was a large blue crystal located in the next room. She examined it, but then shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

"Guess it's not the Frozen Flame after all," she muttered.

However, the whole room fell silent as some new figures entered the room. There was a rather large reploid with black and silver armor, and another figure. The large reploid was a very imposing figure, and appeared to be very powerful despite his somehwat old age. However, the other figure...the other figure appeared like a cat-like humanoid creature clad in robes.

X knew he saw that figure before. He had seen him in his dreams. He had heard him calling out his name..this person called X "the assassin of time." X just stopped. He didn't know what to do or say. He tried to examine things closer to try and get some understanding of the situation, even if it was through such simple means. The cat-like creature drew its face towards the big reploid's ear, and whispered.

"That's him.." the cat-like creature whispered.

"Ah.." the large reploid replied, nodding his head.

The reploid then turned to X. His presence was somewhat intimidating, but not frightful like the other creature's. This man exhumed an aura of valor and strength, something that X could feel, but he knew that this man would also be difficult to bargain with because of it.

"You have my compliments for getting past security. What is it you require of me?" he asked.

X gritted his teeth angrily. Was this person just fooling around with him? Or did he seriously not know why X was there?

"Who are you people?! And why are you after me?" X shouted.

"So you're General Viper? Don't feign ignorance on me now! Why did ya send yer Dragoons to get me mate X here!?" Kid added.

"We want some answers pal," Zero added.

"I am General Viper," the reploid replied. "And I haven'tthe foggiest idea what you're talking about."

"General..I believe these vermin are here to see me," a voice hissed.

X was completely dumbfounded. He couldn't understand how in the world General Viper couldn't comprehend what X was talking about considering the fact that X had people trying to kill him left and right, and the said people being Acacia Dragoons. Everyone seemed rather focused on General Viper, but Kid, in the meantime, stared angrily at the feline-human.

"Lynx! You..you..I'm gonna make you regret bein' born!" she shouted.

"Hmm...? Young girl...are you...?" Lynx asked.

"What's the matter!? Cat got yer tongue!? I've finally caught you by the tail now, Lynx! I've come for two things...the Frozen Flame and yer life, ya murderer!!!" she screamed.

"Aha...so you must be Kid then...a member of the fearsome band of thieves known as the Radical Dreamers, correct?" Lynx asked.

X's eyes widened when he heard Kid's sudden outburst of ferocity. He assumed she must have some kind of vendetta against Lynx. But then X remembered his dream..he saw himself with Kid. And she shouted something about getting Lynx. This turn of events startled X, and he began to tremble.

He couldn't figure it out. Everything seemed to flow together so seamlessly that it didn't make sense. Was it coincidence, or was it something more? Before X had the chance to figure it out, he was brought to another vision. He saw something awful. He saw an event happening, but he didn't know what it was.

All he knew was that it was a catastrophe. And he caused it. He then saw a strange artifact..the one from the other dream. He didn't know how he knew what it was, but he had a feeling that he knew. It was all too strange.

"Radical Dreamers...? This young lady...?" Viper asked.

"Precisely! Don't let her innocence fool you, General. She is quite ferocious..." Lynx replied.

"Hah! Ferocious!? My arse...! After what you've done!" Kid shouted.

"I hate to dissappoint you, but the Frozen Flame is not here. That fire lies hidden in the Sea of Eden, the place where past and future collide..." Lynx muttered.

"Alright then...it looks like I'll have to put that part off 'til later. In the meantime, I'll settle my score with you, Lynx! Prepare to meet yer maker!" Kid threatened.

"Don't worry about them Viper..I will handle things," Lynx hissed.

X felt a chill run up his spine as he saw Lynx walk forward. Lynx emanated a feeling of malice and despair, and seemed to remind X of one other being. That being Sigma. But he knew that this enemy..this evil..was not him. It was something that scared X to a different degree, but in the same context as Sigma.

X didn't know if Sigma was somehow tied into this matter, but he felt ill at ease regardless. Zero, on the other hand, had feelings of fury going through him as opposed to fright like X. He had Viper's men coming after him from all directions, and the only thing he wanted in return was a simple question answered. And what's worse, Zero was rather upset that he was stuck babysitting for a kid like..well, Kid.

"Look here..Lynx, or whatever your name is. I don't know you, and I don't really care who you are. I just want you to leave us alone. We haven't done anything wrong. We just want to find out way back home. We won't bother anyone here, so there's nothing to worry about," Zero explained.

Lynx's face hardened, and Zero's words seemed to have little effect on him. Meaning that any feelings of sympathy seemed to be nonexistent in his case.

"Silence!" Lynx shouted, pointing a finger at Zero.

"What was that?!" Zero replied, gripping his saber tightly.

Zero rushed forward to try and slash at Lynx with his saber, but his attack had no effect. Actually, his sword when right through like it hadn't hit at all, and Zero stumbled forward. Lynx smirked, and then bashed Zero over the back of the head, causing more pain to his ego than his body.

Niki tried his hand next, but unfortunately, Lynx cast him aside like a ragdoll before he had the chance to do anything constructive. X fired a few round of his buster at Lynx, all of which hit. But Lynx seemed to..disappear like a shadow.

His figure distorted and shifted like that of a shadowy mist, and he disappeared into nothingness. He suddenly reappeared behind X, and merely gave X a frightening gaze. X looked back at Lynx and was almost paralyzed. Lynx was perhaps one of the strongest enemies he had ever faced.

"Did you think I would be stupid enough to pick a fight with a rabid dog? Why, just a shadow of mine is enough to deal with the likes of you! Now, X...what do you desire from this world? Do you wish to live again? Do you want to erase your demise from the pages of history?," Lynx hissed, giving the group a superior smirk.

"What are you..talking about?" X muttered, not entirely sure what was going on.

When X craned his neck a bit, he saw that a young, slender, reploid woman had just entered the room. She had blue hair, and white armor, and very soft features. X assumed that she was probably the elder reploid's daughter, or possibly even granddaughter by the looks of it. However, X didn't really have time to dwell on such trivial matters.

"Daddy, about that trip I've been planning..ah!" the reploid girl screamed.

"Stop!" Kid shouted. "Don't move a whisker if you want this girl to live!"

Amidst the confusion, Kid had grabbed the slender reploid girl from behind, and was holding a dagger to her throat. Kid brought her mouth close to the reploid girl's ear.

"Goodness gracious! Who are you!?" the girl asked frantically.

"Don't worry..I won't hurt you.." Kid whispered.

"Take your hands of Riddel you dirty litte..!" Viper shouted, stretching out a hand.

"Shuddup, old-timer! Our lives are at stake here! There ain't nothin dirty about savin' yer own life...!" Kid shouted.

"Just let us go peacefully. No one has to get hurt," Zero added.

Riddel struggled against Kid's grip, but by the looks of things, she was no warrior. And besides, she didnt't really want to risk being stabbed in the throat either. Even though she didn't think Kid would do that to her, she didn't want to take that chance. And besides, if this situation could remove the possibility of more bloodshed, then it was worth it in her opinion. She didn't want to see these strangers killed.

"X, listen to me...the end of the human world is nigh! When this time comes, X, there shall be a deep emnity between you and the world! This is not speculation or prediction...this is history!" Lynx shouted.

Lynx slowly walked forward, and looked menacingly at Kid. Kid kept backing up against the wall, and soon, was outside by a balcony. X, having recollected his senses, got Zero and Niki, and went after Kid. Kid kept backing up, and eventually got rather close to the edge of the balcony.

Kid gave a nervous look over the edge of the balcony, then returned her gaze to Lynx. He seemed so emotionless. X was busy trying to assess the situation at hand, but doing his best to not make matters any worse. He certainly didn't want Kid to do anything foolish with her supposed hostage, and he did not even want to know what Lynx would do. Furthermore, Lynx'sthreats were rather unnerving, and left him almost speechless.

Zero was in the same position as X. He didn't want to make matters any worse than they already were. Zero may be a bit of a hot-head, but he was no fool. Zero gritted his teeth angrily as he saw Lynx mercilessly pursue Kid, and kept his eyes affixed on him. Niki wasn't as involved as X or Zero, but he didn't want to interfere either.

Lynx smirked viciously, and slowly drew a small dagger. It was rather small, definitely inefficient in close range combat. It would be far better as some sort of throwing weapon. That's when it struck X.

"Kid, look out!" X shouted.

Lynx threw the dagger at Kid, and it stuck in her shoulder. Kid stumbled backwards a bit, and then dropped backwards over the balcony. X, Niki, and Zero ran after her. As Kid stumbled, Riddel broke herself free of her grip, and ran to General Viper's side.

"Kid!!" X shouted.

Zero slammed his fist on the balcony's edge, and then returned his gaze to Lynx.

"You bastard!" he screamed, pointing his saber at the evil creature.

Zero returned his gaze below, to try and see if Kid had some hope of landing safely. However, when he took his eyes off of Lynx, he didn't notice him moving. Lynx took the opportunity to move up close to Zero.

"Argh..how..?" Zero muttered.

Lynx smiled at Zero, and then threw him over the side of the balcony. However, he threw Zero so that he would hit Niki first, knocking them both off. X's jaw dropped as he saw both his friends fall.

"Zero!" X shouted.

X pointed his buster at Lynx, and fired. However, his shot missed, and Lynx seemed to disappear into shadows again.

"Where could he have..?" X muttered, looking around.

X slowly shifted his position, and aimed his buster around the room. Lynx was around somehwere, he reasoned. Lynx could appear from anywhere and that fact alone made X a bit uneasy. A single bead of sweat trickled down his face as he nervously scanned the area.

"Behind you," a voice hissed.

X quickly turned around and fired, but Lynx was not there at all. However, he then felt a pair of hands grab him from behind.

"I told you I was behind you..but you didn't listen I suppose," Lynx mocked. "What do you live for? What are you willing to die for? I've been waiting for you, X...waiting a long, long time for you...now come to me...the assassin of time..the Chrono Trigger!"

"Let go of me! I'm not some puppet you can use!" X shouted.

X wrenched himself out of Lynx's grip, and leaped over the balcony.

"No!" Lynx shouted.


	6. There and Back Again

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 6  
"_There and back again_"  
By MEGAMANX411

X slowly opened his eyes, and he was greeted by the gentle presence of the sunlight coming in through a nearby window. He slowly sat up, and rubbed his eyes. He shook his head to remove any fatigue left in him, and he then turned his head to see a medic reploid staring down at him.

The reploid was coated in mostly white and blue armor, and was arguably around the same height and build as X. He had short blonde hair, and he appeared rather unfitting for a medical reploid.

"Whoah dudes....looks like he's ok," the medical reploid announced.

"Oi! X! Ya finally woke up, eh? Give yer thanks to Korcha. He's the one that saved us after we fell off the cliff," Kid added.

"Kid! You're ok...and Korcha, thank you" X asked.

Korcha was another child-like reploid, perhaps around the same age as Kid. He was at the same height as well. He had spikey red hair, and wore red armor.

"No sweat. It's just part of my job as a ferryman. But I have to admit, you caught me by surprise when you came fallin' from the sky. You're lucky that it was the sea thatcha fell into and not the rocks!" Korcha replied.

X stood up and looked around the room. The place he was in now was rather unfamiliar to him. It appeared rather destitute by any means, and seemed to be devoid of any high matenaince equipment. It was a run-down place, and when X looked out the window, he saw quite a bit of water. That's when he realized he was on some kind of floating village.

"Where the heck..am I?" X asked, rubbing his head.

Kid slowly walked up next to X and placed ahand on his shoulder.

"You're in Guldove," Kid replied.

"Good to see you're finally awake," Zero added.

X turned around to face Kid, and he was overjoyed to see that she was alright. His eyes lit up and his expression quickly turned to a smile. Kid chuckled and gave X a defiant look.

"You think a cheap shot from Lynx is enough to keep me...down...?! But geez, you're such a wuss! How could you get knocked out from such a short fall!? As for me...a little graze like this...ain't gonna...knock...me...down," Kid replied.

Before Kid could finish her boasting, she stumbled and fell tothe floor. She slowly tried to pick herself back up, but was seemingly unable to thanks to the massive fatigue. X quickly grabbed her and tried to steady her so she wouldn't fall again. He then placed her back on the bed.

"You're still hurt Kid..don't move for now. Ah, you're burning up.." X whispered.

"But.." Kid replied.

"No excuses. Let the medic take care of you...oh, I'm sorry, I haven't properly thanked you for rescuing us. I'm X," X began, stretching out his hand.

The medical reploid took X's hand and nodded back tohim.

"Don't mention it. My name's Doc by the way. But you shouldn't be thanking me," Doc replied.

X gave a worried look back at Kid.

"What's wrong with Kid? And why do you say that?" he asked.

"I haven't finished repairs on her yet. Looks like somebody did a number on her. But there is something else that's really causing complications. It looks as though she's been infected with some form of virus. There is a vaccine we can make, but unfortunately, we don't have the materials to do so.." Doc whispered.

"Wait, wait, what exactly is wrong with Kid?" Zero asked, crossing his arms.

"She's been infected with some strange form of virus. There is a certain mechaniloid known as a Hydra which produces a material which counteracts the virus. However.." Doc muttered.

"However..? What do you mean?" X asked.

"That creature's been extinct for a long time," Doc replied.

"What do you mean, 'extinct?' What's goin' on!?" Korcha asked.

The medical reploid's nurse then walked into the room. She was rather tall, and had long flowing blonde hair. She had deep blue eyes, and wore lots of white.

"What he means to say is that Hydra mechaniloids are no longer produced here, and no one around even knows how to make one anymore," the nurse replied.

The medical reploid bowed his head in disgrace, and began to walk out of the room. The nurse eyed him worriedly, and stretched out a hand to try and stop him.

"Doctor..?" the nurse whispered.

The medical reploid merely shook his head and continued walking out the room, apparently distressed.

"I need to be alone for awhile," he replied.

Korcha worriedly shouted out something to try to attract his attention back. Zero was a bit angered himself.

"Hey! Were do you think you're going?!" Zero shouted.

"H-Hey, doc! Where are you going!? Nothing's been resolved yet!" Korcha added.

Niki turned to X, who looked rather furious at this turn of events.

"X, what are we going to do? Kid is going to die if we leave her like this!" Niki shouted.

"Wait right here. I'll go get the doctor back!" Korcha answered.

Korhca dashed out of the room, but then bumped into a person as he tried to make his way out. He was sent backwards a bit, and he stumbled back. He shook his head, and then looked up to see who he bumped into. It was Harle.

"Who the hell are you!?" Korcha asked, rubbing his head.

Harle shook her head, and then gave Korcha a rather disapproving nod.

"What'z zis? Non apologiez for bumping into moi? Ooh la lah, don't you know any mannerz?" Harle teased.

Harle then shifted her attention to Kid, who was resting on the bed at the moment.

"Ha haa, she iz down for ze count, just az I t'ought..." Harle muttered, looking down at Kid.

Harle then looked back to X and smirked.

"X, mon ami, why don't we just leave her be?" Harle asked.

"What?!" X shouted, clenching his fist.

"Look, whoever you are, I think you better leave," Zero threatened.

"Se taire! I have no buziness wit' no chicken-hawk. I am having a converzation wit' X. You're bothering moi, so keep your mouth shut," Harle replied.

"What was that?!" Zero shouted.

"Why you...I ain't gonna letcha barge into this room and get away with all the stuff you've said! You've made me mad. I'll show ya some manners! I'm not gonna cutcha any slack just because you're a girl either!" Korcha added.

Korcha then dashed at Harle, but she quickly disappeared, and Korcha rammed into the wall. He slammed head first, and then stumbled back. Zero, in the meantime, kept his eyes focused on where Harle would resurface. She reappeared by Kid's bedside.

"Korcha, are you alright?" X asked.

"Ahaha, such a simpleton. It'z so much fun playing jokez on you. I waz only here to see how she waz doing, but I had fun while I waz at it. So long, X, au revoir, mon ami! Pleaze dream of moi every night! Oui!" Harle announced.

"Why do you insist on pestering us?" X asked.

Before Harle could answer the question, she left as quickly as she came. She definitely wasa strange one, certainly stranger than most X had known.

"Man, she sure is weird," Niki muttered.

"Yeah.." Zero replied, scratching his head.

Meanwhile, Kid was tossing and turning in the bed. She was clearly in distress.

"Oooo...... X......" she muttered.

X rushed back to her bedside, and clasped her hand in his. He looked down at her, and wiped her forehead with his other hand.

"What is it Kid?" X asked. "Don't try to move, just rest."

"X, I'l leave this... with you. It's my favorite amulet. Remember what the... prophet said...X. Where did...it all start? Where...do angels...lose their way...? Try to... remember ...X. I'm feelin' a bit tired...I'm gonna rest up...for a while..." Kid muttered.

Kid then drifted off back to sleep just after handing X a sparkling pendant. It shimmered with radiance, and seemed to emanate a strange power that X had never seen before.

"Kid, take it easy. I'll do my best to save you," X whispered.

"You know what the doc said..there are no more Hydra mechaniloids left in this world. Whatcha gonna do X?" Korcha asked.

X looked down to the ground, and then gave Korcha an innocent look.

"What else? I'm going to save her," X replied.

Zero gave X a smirk, and then placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That's the spirit. But where do we go from here?" Zero asked.

"Well, I feel as though I should help out considering I brought her back here. I may as well try to help ya out. I'll come along with ya," Korcha added.

"All we have now is Kid's amulet.." X muttered.

"What about this village? Is this anyone here that can tell us something?" Niki asked.

The entire group looked at each other, and then submersed themselves in thought. Then, the nurse came back into the room.

"Maybe you guys could see the village shaman? A shaman might be able to help you out. I'm really sorry that neither the doctor nor I could be of much help, but.." she whispered.

Zero shook his head and shushed her.

"It's ok, there's nothing else you could do. We'll handle it from here," Zero replied.

"Yes, that sounds like a good plan..but what is a shaman anyway?" X asked, scratching his head.

"The shaman is an elite class governing reploid who helps watch over the village. They're like a mayor or chief, and they have lots o' wisdom. The shaman might know something, although I can't say for sure. It's worth a try. We'll continue this outside," Korcha replied.

With that, Korcha, Niki, X, and Zero walked outside and continued their conversation.

"So where do we find this shaman?" X asked.

"You just go down thatcha way, head right, take the ladder, then enter the tower. It's the tallest building around here, so it's impossible to miss," Korcha replied.

X shrugged his shoulders, and then tapped Zero's shoulder.

"Come on, we should be going," X offered.

Zero nodded back, and then followed afterwards.

"What about us?" Niki asked.

Zero looked to X, and then shook his head.

"Sorry guys, you just stay here. We won't be long," Zero answered.

X and Zero followed Korcha's directions and came the supposed tower that he talked about. It wasn't very tall, perhaps only a few floors in height. It appeared rather drab and plain, and didn't seem to stand out too much for anything else besides its height. Zero and X walked in, and saw two female reploids there.

The first one appeared to be a bit older, and had dark hair. The other reploid had blue and white armor, which was designed in a very elaborate manner, and she had long silvery hair. The older reploid approached them first.

"Hello there. I am Steena, a shaman and servant of Direa. Do you need something?" she asked.

X rubbed the back of his head, and looked slightly embarassed. He looked to Zero for some confidence, and Zero just nodded his head, presumedly to give X some kind of signal to start talking.

"Well, um, yes. We were wondering if you could give us some information," X replied.

"Ah, well, Direa may be able to assist you. She should be able to give you some proper guidance," Steena answered.

"Thank you," X replied, nodding his head.

Direa walked towards them, her long, silvery hair billowing down, cascading down her shoulders elegantly. Her deep blue eyes conveyed a strong sense of wisdom and kindness, and she seemed to have an aura of gentleness. Her appearance and beauty were both awesome, and seemed to leave both X and Zero speechless.

She walked around X and Zero, and seemed to examine them both closely. She looked them over curiously, and was almost trying to discover their intent just by looking straight at them. X got rather tense and embarassed, and was a bit creeped out that this stranger was examining him so close. Zero, on the other hand, didn't really care one way or the other.

If some beautiful female reploid felt the need to get close to him, so be it. He didn't have any objections if she wanted to be close to him, if anything, it was an added bonus to his existing duty.

"You have a strange yet calm feeling about you. What is it that troubles you?" Direa asked.

X gulped loudly. He knew what to say, but he didn't know if he should even say it. After all, who would possibly believe his story? That he was supposed to be dead? That he came from a different dimension? It seemed ludicrous, but he decided to get it out of the way anyway.

"Well, you see..we're not from here. In fact, we didn't even come from this dimension. And here, I'm supposed to be dead. Also, during my travels, I found that some people have been after me. While we've eluded them, Zero and I have tried to get back home. But before we can do that, we have to help one of our friends. You see, she got sick, but the vaccine doesn't exist here.." X muttered.

"I see..you say you are supposed to no longer exist in this world? How interesting..that must be why you have such a strange feeling about you. If what you seek is no longer in this world, then perhaps what you want lies in the other. I do not know exactly how for you to get back, but I suppose perhaps if you return to were you arrived, there may be a clue. A dimensional rift, if you will," Direa replied.

X was completely dumbfounded. He did not expect her to listen to him at all, let alone give him an answer. Zero, in the meantime, kept his cool demeanor.

"Thank you very much Direa. We appreciate your assistance," Zero replied, sounding entirely suave.

"You are welcome. I sincerely hope my advice helps you," Direa answered.

With that, X and Zero turned and walked out the door to notice that Korcha and Niki were both waiting outside.

"What are you two doing out here?" X asked.

"We wanted to know what was going on," Niki replied.

"Well, if you know, X and I must be going. Come on, let's get to the boat," Zero answered.

"Hey, whatcha about me?" Korcha replied.

X looked over to Zero, who was shaking his head. X reluctantly looked back at Korcha, and then shrugged his shoulders regrettably.

"I'm sorry Korcha, but we don't want to get you involved. It could get dangerous..why don't you and Niki stay here with Kid?" X offered.

"But..oh, alrightcha.." Korcha muttered, hanging his head low.

Zero rubbed Korcha's hair in a teasing manner, and apparently tried to cheer him up.

"Don't worry, Kid will be fine. We'll be back with the vaccine," Zero replied. "Come on X, let's go."

"Yeah, coming," X answered.

X and Zero made the preparations on the boat, and then departed for where X originally entered this world. They both got off, and searched the area...but found nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out, and everything seemed to be in place.

"What..there's nothing here!" Zero shouted.

X clasped the pendant Kid gave to him tightly in frustration. How could this happen? He came all the way out here for nothing! And what's worse, he wouldn't be able to save Kid!

"No..this isn't fair.." X muttered.

"X, don't let it get you down. We'll keep looking," Zero replied.

All of the sudden, a huge pillar of light shot up from the ground and shook the earth violently. X and Zero stood there in awe at its awesome presence, and seemed to be completely amazed at this sudden turn of events.

"X..do you think that's...?" Zero asked, almost at a loss for words.

"I don't know Zero.." X replied.

"You realize X..if we can go back..that we can just stay?" Zero replied.

X thought about what Zero said. It was true, he could just stay back and forget about everything that happened to him here. He could just call it a weird dream and nothing more. But what about Kid? What about his dreams? What about the people that were chasing him? What about Lynx? There were so many unanswered questions..and what about the prophecies he had heard? Sure, they were farfetched, but his dreams were certainly making him think otherwise.

"Yes..but..we have to help Kid," X answered.

X and Zero both slowly and cautiously stepped forward into the beam of light...


	7. Not Without You

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 7  
"_Not without you_"  
By MEGAMANX411

Mega Man X and Zero both entered the pillar of light, and felt as though their bodies were being ripped to pieces and hurled at an incredible rate through a vast nothingness. The feeling of uneasiness and brief pain was followed by a sensation of floating..like they were being carassed by some unknown presence. Finally, they felt themselves being reanimated and restructured back to the way they were. The overall process was entirely alien to them, but it felt like they had done it before.

X's eyes widened, and he looked at his hands just to make sure he was still in tact. He was fine..there wasn't a scratch on him. But he felt like he was ripped to pieces and put back together again. He shook his head, and then tried to grasp the situation. He felt Zero's hand clasp his shoulder.

"X, we made it!" Zero shouted.

X nodded, and a big smirk came onto his face.

"Yeah..but where are we?" X asked, looking around the immediate area.

X and Zero were now standing above a cliff, overlooking a vast body of water. This setting felt familiar to X...he had been here before. He knew it. That's when it hit him.

"This is where I was supposed to die..." X muttered.

Zero's eyes widened, and he gave X a strange look.

"What do you mean X?" Zero asked.

"This is where I fought Sigma the first time. After I defeated him, I watched his fortress fall into the waters from here. Maybe..in the other world, I was the one to fall with the fortress..." X muttered.

Zero responded by taking off his helmet, and running his hair through his silky blonde hair. He placed his helmet under his arm, and stared off into the sky.

"But the fact of the matter is you live here in this world, and this is where you belong. Right X?" Zero replied.

X smiled, and returned his gaze to Zero. Zero had always been there to cheer him up. X responded by taking off his own helmet, and running his hand through his own spikey black hair. (Author's note: I'm not sure exactly what X's hair color is).

"Heh..I barely see you without your helmet. I never get used to seeing your hair," Zero teased.

"Yeah..it feels kinda good to let the air go through my hair," X replied, shaking his head.

All of the sudden, a worried voice came through their com-links. It was too faint to hear at first, and there was some static blocking it, but it came through eventually.

"....Z..Z-Zero!! X! Can you hear me? This is Alia..please respond! Are you alright?!" Alia shouted, clearly worried.

X brought up his communicator, and activated the transmission circuit.

"Alia..this is X. Zero and I are back now," X replied.

"X! You're safe..good..phew..I almost thought you would never come back.." Alia muttered.

"Well, we're on our way back now..I'm sorry to have worried you, Alia.." X replied.

Zero chuckled, and started walking past X. X was a bit curious as to what the laughing matter was, and he was a bit offended too.

"What's so funny?" X asked.

"It's just the way you are around her," Zero replied.

"The way I am..around who?" X replied, purposely playing dumb.

"You know who I'm talking about," Zero teased.

X rolled his eyes, and didn't particularly care for this discussion.

"Hey, I'm just being nice to Alia, is something wrong with that?" X replied.

"Sure.._nice_, that's what you want to call it," Zero teased.

X shook his head and kept walking. He put his helmet back on snugly and kept a straight face. Zero in the meantime had a huge smile on his face knowing that he just embarassed the living daylights out of X.

X and Zero soon reached Maverick Hunter HQ, and felt entirely relieved to walk back through those doors. Signas and Alia were both there, clearly waiting in eager anticipation for the top two hunters to return. Alia nervously walked up to X, and her head was hung low.

"X..you're ok.." she muttered.

X placed his hands on her arms, and tried to get a good look in to her eyes.

"Alia..I'm sorry," X replied.

X then felt Zero's elbow hitting him in the side. X looked over to see Zero giving him a rather shifty look, and he made a gesture that seemed to make reference to him and Alia.

"Zero!" X shouted.

Signas crossed his arms, and then gave X and Zero a rather serious look.

"You have spent quite some time away from HQ. Care to enlighten us?" Signas asked.

X sighed. He knew that his story was a bit farfetched..and he had to get back! He had to help Kid before her condition worsened.

"Look, sir, I don't have too much time," X replied.

Signas narrowed his eyes.

"X, I don't know if you fully understand, but you have a duty here as a top-ranked hunter--"

"I understand, it's just that there's a situation," X replied.

"A situation?" Signas asked.

"Well..Zero and I investigated that anomaly that Alia pointed out earlier, but it brought us to some unkown location. While we were there, we discovered some interesting things..but one of the things that we must take care of is assistance someone who is in danger of dying if we don't help! Quick, we need to track down a Hydra mechaniloid quick so we can download a progam from its internal memory," X answered.

"Wait, wait, who's in danger? What's going on?" Signas asked.

Zero shrugged and placed a hand on Signas' shoulder.

"Look Signas, the fact is we're fine, and from the looks of it, things here are ok here too. Now can you help us?" Zero asked.

"Well..I suppose you do raise a point. You should be able to find one at the processing plant..but after that, how long do you intend on being away?" Signas asked.

X rubbed the back of his head, and tried to search for an answer. Truthfully, he didn't know how long he'd be away. He didn't want to leave Alia and Signas there, and he certainly didn't want to endanger anyone...but before X could think any more on the subject, he felt a hand clasp his tightly. It was Alia. She looked deep into his eyes.

"X..please..we need you here," Alia pleaded.

"Alia, I have to help. I have to go," X replied.

Alia dropped her head low, and she remained silent for a little while. There was the quintessential awkward silence following. X sighed lightlly, and then brought his gaze to Alia's face. How he longed to look back into that beautiful visage.

"A-Alia..I..I'm sorry," X muttered. "What I mean to say is..I don't want to leave you.."

Alia still looked rather distressed, and didn't seem to cheer up to X's sentiment.

"I know X..." Alia replied.

X shook his head, and kept looking at Alia. He couldn't look away, and seemed to be entirely focused.

"No, I don't think you do understand..I really want to be here with you.." X answered. "But I must go..but not without you."

Alia's eyes widened, and she returned X's gaze. She looked back into his deep, gentle eyes, and became completely lost.

"But X.." she protested.

"Look Alia, I may need your assistance on this. Zero and I may need a communications expert while we are on our investigation, and you may be able to help us uncover something," X offered.

Alia looked to Signas. He seemed rather indifferent, and sighed lightly.

"Well, Alia, he does raise a point. We do have lots of trainees ready for the hunter position, and I'm sure one of our other navigators could fill in for you while you keep an eye on X and Zero," Signas answered.

"Yes sir..I will do my best," Alia replied.

X smiled, and grabbed Alia's hand. She didn't hesitate like she normally did, but she let X clasp her tightly and bring her close.

"Come on, let's get that mechaniloid and get going," X offered.

Signas placed a hand on X's shoulder. He nodded to X, and then smiled.

"X...you're on the top hunters. I hope you uncover something there. And don't worry about anything here, we'll take care of it. We await your return eagerly," Signas announced.

"Don't worry about a thing Signas, we'll be fine," X replied.

X then walked up to Alia. He remembered back to when Kid mentioned something about the Frozen Flame..and he wondered if had any relevance to Lynx. Or possibly as Kid's position in the Radical Dreamers. If it existed in that dimension, there may have been some inversely-related proof of it in this one, as crazy as it sounded.

"Alia, I was wondering if you could help me figure something out," X began.

"Sure, what is it?" Alia asked.

"Well, in that other..place, I discovered a few things that are rather unusual. First, I've been having strange dreams. Second, there's a particularly..well, creature named Lynx, and third, there's something called the 'Frozen Flame'...do you have any idea about all of this?" X asked.

Alia shook her head. She knew a lot about many things, but that just eluded her grasp.

"I'm sorry X..I don't know. But if I accompany you back there, I may be able to help uncover something," Alia replied.

"Well, we should be going soon anyway," X answered.

All of the sudden, they both heard Zero walk back in.

"Hey everyone, got the vaccine data from the mechaniloid! We're all...oh, I see what's going on here," Zero teased, pointing to X and Alia.

X and Alia were standing rather close to each other, and they were holding each other hands pretty tightly..it could make for a big misunderstanding. X quickly realized what Zero was getting it.

"No, Zero, you don't understand! Alia and I were just talking.." X protested.

"Sure X, whatever. Come on, let's get going," Zero replied.

"I'm serious Zero!" X shouted.

"I'll bet," Zero replied.

"No, I'm really telling you the truth!" X shouted.

"Whatever you say, X," Zero teased.

X was becoming increasingly annoyed whereas Zero was beginning to have more and more fun with this. Alia, in the meantime, was a bit too shocked to get involved. She did find some it funny, however. Soon, they all reached the place where they came back into this world. X looked back at Alia and Zero, and clasped the amulet in his hands tightly.

It worked before..so it should work again. Or at least X had hoped.

"Please..work.." X muttered, holding the amulet tight.

Suddenly, a huge blast of light shot up from the ground just like before, leaving Alia in sheer awe. Her eyes widened, and she stood there speechless. X turned to her.

"Alia..are you alright?" X asked. "Are you sure about this?"

Alia nodded happily, and her typical pleasurable smile appeared back on her face.

"Of course I am, last time I checked, you were the one who was always unsure," Alia teased.

Zero then made the gesture of a whip-crack, and smirked at X.

"Zero, that's not funny!" X shouted.

X shook his head, and then walked beside his friends. He nodded to both Alia and Zero.

"You guys ready?" Zero asked.

"Yeah.." X muttered, grabbing Alia's hand.

"Here we go.."


	8. The Dream Didn't End

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 8  
"_The dream didn't end_"  
By MEGAMANX411

Mega Man X, Zero, and Alia all stepped into the field of light. All of three of them were systematically disassembled at the molecular level, hurled through space, and later reassembled back in the other world. The whole experience was still as mindblowing as the first time it happened to X and Zero. After all, how could one possibly ever forget being ripped apart and transferred across dimensions?

X was the first to open his eyes. He was greeted back to the land of the other world. The place where he was supposed to be dead. The place where a friend of his was in need. Zero wasn't really as affected by the whole trip and retained his composure. After all, he had to hurry if he wanted to save Kid. Alia, on ther hand, was in complete awe of what just happened. She was speechless.

X placed his hand on Alia's shoulder, and shook her a little to try and see if she was really awake or daydreaming.

"Hey Alia..are you alright?" X asked.

Alia shook her head quickly to try and regain her composure, and quickly came to her senses.

"Oh yes, I'm fine X. Just a little..shocked, that's all," Alia replied.

"Yeah, I would've thought dimensional travel would be more common these days," Zero teased.

"Anyway, we should be going. Kid definitely needs us," X replied.

Zero nodded quickly, and then opened his fist to reveal the vaccine.

"Yeah, she really needs this.." Zero mutered.

As X, Zero, and Alia got into the boat and departed, they continued their conversation.

"So who is Kid?" Alia asked.

"She's a young reploid from around here I guess. She helped us out a lot, so I think the least we can do is pay her back," Zero replied.

X then realized that this was the perfect time to repay Zero for the teasing earlier. He grinned as he looked at Zero.

"Yeah, plus she's your new girlfriend, right Zero?" X teased.

Zero's eyes widened, and he instantly became enraged. He was normally the one to make jokes about X, but this time the blue bomber managed to pull one on him!

"X!!!" Zero screamed.

Alia just laughed as she saw Zero try to strangle X, and X in the meantime was laughing too hard to resist really. Zero fell back and then sighed. He chuckled, and looked back up at X.

"I got to admit X, that was a good one," Zero replied, smiling.

"So what else has happened here anyway?" Alia asked, trying to get a more meaningful conversation going.

X shrugged. There really wasn't much to tell..or at least he assumed as much. He then remembered his dreams that he had, and the impact that they had on him. They were certainly gnawing on his mind.

"Well..there are some people after us. They are an elite group of reploids called Acacia Dragoons," X replied.

"Is that so? Why are they after you?" Alia asked.

"I don't know. I keep hearing something called the Frozen Flame being mentioned, and there's something else bothering me," X muttered.

"What's that?" Alia continued, becoming increasingly interested.

"There's some creature named Lynx..and he really creeps me out. There's something seriously wrong, I can feel it. Not to mention these dreams I keep having," X muttered.

"Dreams?" Alia repeated.

X shrugged his shoulders. Truthfully, he didn't really know how to explain his dreams to Alia. They hadn't happened. But it's as if he knew that they were bound to happen eventually. These dreams were arguably some of the strangest things that have ever happened to X, but he couldn't quite place it.

"I'm not really sure how to explain..it's like..it hasn't happened. But for some reason, it feels like it will happen. That's what I want to figure out. And I want to see how to stop it," X muttered, lowering his head.

X was a bit apprehensive about this whole mess. What if staying here actually made the prophecies depicted in his dreams come true? What if he was actually making them happen by trying to stop them? He couldn't be sure, and he didn't know if he wanted to risk it.Either way, there was something serious going on.

That's when he felt Alia's soft comforting touch on his shoulder. X slowly brought up his hand and laid it on top of her's, and for that brief moment, they felt entirely connected..but that wasn't going to last long. X then felt Zero tap him on the shoulder.

"X, we're here," Zero muttered, pointing to the familiar setting.

X nodded, and then helped Alia out of the boat. That's when Niki and Korcha came out of the medical room to spot X, Zero and some girl that they hadn't seen before. Niki nodded appreciatively at Alia, and then nudged X.

"Hey, she's a babe man," he commented.

X frowned and gave Niki a strange look.

"That's my friend Alia..and I'd appreciate if you wouldn't address her as "babe," ok?" X replied.

Niki shook his head apologetically while Zero just laughed. Alia wasn't really playing attention, she was more preoccupied with her data analysis.

"Anyway..let's go help Kid, we can't waste any more time," X added.

X and the others went inside and they all congregated by Kid's side. She was entirely fatigued from the effects of the virus, and seemed to be sleeping (or at least attempting to sleep). Zero took the vaccine out and administered it. The effects were almost immediate, and Kid soon regained conciousness.

She sat up in her bed, and then shook her head to remove any of the excess weariness from her system. She gave a strange look around the room and saw that the entire group was huddled around her.

"What's goin' on..?" Kid whispered, looking around the room.

Zero smirked, and then patted Kid on the back.

"Looks like you're ok," he observed, notably impressed with her resolve.

Kid gave Zero an arrogant smile, and then proudly stood back up.

"Well, it'd take more than that to take care o' me," she replied. "But X..thank you. For savin' me."

X nodded, and smiled back at Kid.

"I couldn't have abandoned you," X replied.

"So X, whatcha gonna do now?" Korcha asked.

X suddenly was thrust into another vision.He saw something happen again. Something he needed to prevent. A great disaster unlike any other he had ever seen. X shook his head, and then he tensed his muscles as if he was suffering from a great headache.

"Are you ok?" Alia asked.

X nodded slowly, and then relaxed his body.

"Yeah..I'm fine. I'm thinking that I'm going to stay here a bit longer though. There's something I need to figure out," X replied.

"Yeah, I agree. There's something weird going on. But first, I think we should get back to Termina. There will probably be more clues there," Zero noted.

"I can take you all back to Termina if you like," Korcha replied.

"Really?" X asked.

"Yes..but um..." Korcha stuttered, his eyes trailing around the room.

Korcha nervously fidgeted, and then gave Kid an embarrassed stare.

"What is it?" Kid asked.

"Well..in return for the trip...I'd like..to.." Korcha muttered, once again becoming inaudible.

"Heh, pretty shrewd aren't ya? Guess I shouldn't have thanked you earlier after all!" Kid shotued.

Korcha looked extremely nervous. It's as if something was on his mind, but he couldn't express it into words. He tensed his muscles and tried to spit it out as best he could, but the words refused to come without immense effort.

"I wantcha to be my wife!" Korcha shouted, nevously blurting out his answer without thinking.

Korcha then immediately placed a hand over his mouth as he realized he just said something rather out of the question.

"What..did you say?" Kid asked, sounding entirely amazed.

"I said..I wantcha to be my wife!" Korcha repeated.

Zero shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. This was entirely unnecessary, and furthermore, childish.Even so, Zero did find it somewhat amusing.

"Just get this over with, say yes for all I care," Zero muttered.

Zero was then shocked to see Kid grabbing him and giving him a hostile look.She drew her face close to his, and she was heaving breaths.Clearly, she was really ticked.Zero, on the other hand, was downright frightened at this turn of events.

"What..did..ya..say?" Kid muttered, fire in her eyes.

Now it was Zero's turn to be apprehensive.He couldn't quite get words to come at first, but eventually resolved to.After regaining his pride, he stood back up, and shook off Kid's grio.

"Ah, nothing," he replied.

Kid looked back to Korcha, and gave him an equally ticked gaze.

"And as fer ya..I'll think about it, but first you gotta take us to Termina," Kid commanded.

Korcha nodded hastily.Heck, even that answer was as good as a yes to him, so he didn't have many complaints.However, Niki wasn't really paying attention to the sitatuation, Alia was busy taking her data analsysis, and X was too busy supressing his laughter. So they couldn't really comment on anything.

When everyone got in the boat, Kid was a bit perplexed as to why Alia was here. She walked around her and examined her closely, as if she were checking out her supposed competition and comtemplating how to get the upperhand.

"Who are ya?" Kid asked.

"My name's Alia. It's nice to meet you," Alia replied.

Alia introduced herself in her typical polite manner, which X concluded was rather hard to resist.Kid, on the other hand, somehow managed to remain somewhat arrogant still.She didn't seem to like the fact that she was sitting next to X, or that she was on this trip at all.

"So..are ya like X's mom or somethin'?" Kid asked.

Alia's smile was then replaced by a rather fake smile that hid a bit of anger.Being called old by some ungrateful little reploid she barely knew was not something she enjoyed. X decided to help break things upby intervening on Alia's behalf.

"Kid, Alia is my friend. She's from the same world I am," X replied.

"Izzat so?" Kid asked. "Can ya fight at all?"

Alia shrugged her shoulders. Personally, she didn't like to fight. Physical violence was not something she liked to resort to.She did, however, complete basic training as a requirement for joining the Maverick Hunters. Many people there did admit that Alia has pretty good aim with a buster arm, although she isn't as skilled as X is. However, Alia simply chose not to fight on most occasions and simply provide navigational support, which was her strong suit.

"Well..yes," Alia replied.

X shook his head. Even though he wasn't the best person at picking up signals that women gave, he could tell that Alia and Kid were heading for some conflict.

"OK, I think that's enough..anyway, Alia, this is Kid. She's helped us out a lot, and she can fight pretty well. Kid, this is Alia.She's a great friend of mine, and she's very good at providing navigational assistance," X replied.

Kid merely crossed her arms defiantly and sat down beside Zero, who remained rather impervious to her supposed charms. During the trip, Korcha also saw fit to speak to Zero. However, his slight accent did start to get on Zero's nerves.

"So..how are youcha doing?" Korcha asked.

"Fine," Zero muttered, not particularly interested in any conversation.

"Your name's Zerocha right?" Korcha asked.

"It's Zero," Zero replied, sounding a bit offended.

"Zero, that's whatcha I said," Korcha replied.

Zero shook his head. Korcha's method of conversation was really starting to bother him.

"Do you have to say that?" Zero asked.

"Say whatcha?" Korcha asked.

"That!" Zero shouted.

"I dunno whatcha you're talking about," Korcha replied.

"Just stop saying "cha" after everything you say!" Zero screamed.

"Sorry..." Korcha muttered.

"That's better..." Zero muttered, sitting back down.

"..cha.."

"Get over here you little!!" Zero screamed, trying to strangle Korcha.

X quickly leaped over to subdue Zero in time to prevent him from injuring the little reploid. He had to stop laughing first, of course.After the whole "cha" fiasco on the boat was over and done with, they finally arrived back at the Termina docks.

"Wellcha, I'll be seein' ya guys. Later!" Korcha shouted, waving his arms.

"Goodbye Korcha!" X shouted.

"And Korcha! I said I'll **think** about it!" Kid added.

X then turned to Niki, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, it was great having you with us Niki, but I think you better get back with your band now. I bet Miki's really worried about you," X commented.

"Oh, that's right dudes. Anyway, it's been cool hangin' with ya, glad I could help. Feel free to stop by a concert when you want, I'll let ya in for free," Niki replied.

"Heh, sure, I'd like that," X answered.

So, Niki then left, leaving the group reduced to X, Zero, Kid, and Alia.

"Where to now?" Zero asked.

"Well, we might as well look around for clues I suppose," Alia offered.

Alia then heard some voices. She tensed up and tried to listen.

"What is it Alia?" X asked.

"Shh..I hear something.." Alia replied.

"The general and his men are headed for Fort Dragonia.There has been word that the major power of the east, Porre is up to something suspicious. They seem to have heard the rumors of the Frozen Flame in El Nido and are coming to investigate," the first person began.

"My then, that means the Porre army might invade this town any time now.I wonder if we will be alright..." the second person replied.

"Yes, that is why we are moving to the fort for a while.That fort is far from town, so it is not used normally, but it has good defenses. I was ordered to remain at the manor and protect Miss Riddel, but...she felt very uneasy about the way General Viper was acting before he left, so..." the second person answered.

Alia turned to X and the others, apparently looking a bit worried.

"What do you think this means?" she asked.

"Oi! This means that while I was snoozin' in Guldove, Lynx hightailed it out of the manor! Bloody hell! These blokes may cause some major hell!" Kid shouted.

"Well, I think it's best we find our way to Fort Dragonia then," X replied.


	9. Onward to Fort Dragonia

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 9  
"_Onward to Fort Dragonia_"  
By MEGAMANX411

"So how do we get there?" X asked, turning to the group.

Zero shrugged. He wasn't from this world, so there was no way he could possibly know. X was pretty much in the dark too. That just left Kid.

"Is there anything you know about this Kid?" X asked.

"Well, I'm not sure..we could try askin' someone, but we are kinda wanted y'know," Kid muttered.

Alia then intentionally coughed to make her presence known. Although X counted both Kid and Zero, he forgot to think that maybe she had some input on the matter.

"Well, you all are, but I'm not," Alia replied.

X'seyes widened. He knew exactly whatAlia was talking about, and it was pure genius.

"That's a great idea Alia!" X shouted.

"Thanks," Alia replied, blushing a little.

Alia then walked off, and went to the other Dragoons. They both stopped her of course, but they didn't show any hostilities.

"Hello miss. Is there something you need?" one of the Dragoons asked.

Alia had to think of a quick alibi. Maybe she could say she was a new recruit? That idea may work. Either that, or she could mention some fake delivery scheme of some sort. Or maybe she could simply say she needed to meet them? Surely she didn't need something that elaborate..but she had to pick one scenario, and fast.

"Well, I'm supposed to meet some other Dragoons at Fort Dragonia. Could you tell me how to get there?" Alia asked.

The Dragoons looked at each other, and then shrugged their shoulders.

"You sure you want to go there?" the first one asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Is there something wrong?" Alia asked.

"Well..no, not really. Anyway, I'm not too sure how to get there myself. But if you intend to head to the fort, I would offer you a word of advice. When you get on your boat, first head north, and then east. You should find a small island there. A retired Dragoon now lives there. Find him and ask for his advice. There are many frightful rumors about that fort, you know. You never know what to expect there," the Dragoon replied.

Alia nodded respectfully and smiled back at the Dragoons.

"Thank you very much!" she replied, running off.

The Dragoons then looked back at each other, and both nodded their odds.

"Man..that was one cute girl," the second one muttered.

"Yeah, definitely..wonder what she wanted at the fort?" the first one replied.

"I don't know for sure, but she might be a friend of Riddel's or something. That, or the Dragoons there needed some fun, heh.." the second one answered.

Luckily, Alia wasn't around to hear that last comment the Dragoon made. She was too busy getting back to X and company, who were all eager to hear what she had to report with.

"What did you find out?" Zero asked.

"Well, they didn't know what it was exactly.." Alia replied.

Kid was actually a bit pleased at this news. This meant that she wasn't able to outdo her in terms of reconaissance, and therefore, Kid was still superior.

"Figures, you're little plan was useless in the end.." Kid interrupted.

Alia gave Kid an annoyed look, but then decided to finish her point. That'd work better than insults.

"But I did find out about someone who does know," Alia added, smiling. "But that means we need to get to the boat first."

X slapped his face in shock. The boat! Korcha was just about to leave with the boat, so that means they would have to find another. And that may prove difficult considering that there are people after him.

"The boat?!" X shouted.

X looked over to Zero in apparent worry. Zero quickly got the message, and nodded back to X in confirmation of the implied command.

"I'm on it!" Zero shouted.

Zero went dashing off trying to catch Korcha before he left the docks. Korcha was just a little ways out because he was apparently being rather slow. Perhaps what Kid had said to him earlier made him act that way.

"Korcha! Wait!" Zero shouted.

"Heycha..?" Korcha muttered, turning to see Zero.

Now, Korcha may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was aware of the fact that Zero was the one who tried to strangle him on the boat. So needless to say, he was a bit startled.

"What...cha do ya want?" Korcha asked meekly.

"We need your boat again," Zero replied.

Korcha rubbed the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't have much reason to get involved in this, and he himself wouldn't have a way back home for awhile if he were to lend his boat out. But of course, this way he might have the opportunity to further his deal with Kid...

"OK! But I have one condition..." Korcha replied.

Zero shook his head. He remembered exactly what Korcha's "condition" was the last time, and he sure as heck didn't want to get involved again.

"Oh no, you're not gonna get me involved in this. Tell her yourself, but count me out," Zero replied bluntly.

Soon, X, Alia, and Kid came running by to see Zero and Korcha. Korcha blushed at the mere sight of Kid, and then began to rub the back of his head, seemingly embarassed.

"So, what do you say Korcha?" Zero asked.

"Well..I um..you know," Korcha answered.

Kid crossed her arms defiantly and gave Korcha a rather annoyed look.

"Alright, alright, I'm not sayin' I am or anythin', but I'll think about it, ok? Don't get all excited," Kid replied. "Besides, ya know who I am dontcha?"

Korcha nodded, but didn't really seem to be too offended by the fact that Kid was a supposed thief.

"Wellcha, I know you were supposed to be a famous thief or something, but thatcha doesn't matter to me..." Korcha replied.

X, deciding enough was enough, thought it was time that they be heading off to get to Fort Dragonia.

"Alright, that settles it!" X shouted.

Everyone then got back into the boat and made the preparations to leave.

"So where do we go?" Zero asked.

"Well, I don't know where Fort Dragonia is, but there is someone we can visit who might be able to help us. He's a retired Acacia Dragoon,"Alia replied.

X then looked over to notice that Alia was fiddling with a computer. She was typing away quickly.

"What are you doing over there Alia?" X asked.

"Doesn't seem like anythin' useful, I mean she isn't from here y'know," Kid teased, obviously trying to flaunt her superior knowledge.

"I'm putting new information into my personal computer's database for future reference," Alia began. "That way, we can print out a detailed map of the area based on information we receive, or cross-reference material from here to material from our world."

X was a bit stunned. He knew Alia to be a dilligent worker, but this was pretty impressive. It was certainly a useful thing to do.

"That's great Alia!" X replied.

Alia merely blushed and tried to remain humble.

"It's..nothing," Alia muttered.

Kid merely crossed her arms defiantly and sat down beside Zero. Zero's gaze wasn't focused on her, although Kid tried to act like it. There were some things Zero particularly didn't care for. Babysitting was one of them, so he naturally wasn't too pleased about this turn of events. But, in the end, there was something weird going on, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Soon, the island where the old retired Dragoon supposedly lived came into view. It was rather small, and it really only comprised of a single home. The old reploid must have been rather reclusive, or at least X and company assumed as much.

As they disembarked the boat, they noticed that the area was rather...desolate. Smoke was rising from some of the parts of the building...that's when X realized that someone had burned this place to the ground. Someone had beaten them there.

"This isn't good..someone beat us here.." X muttered, surveying the area.

Zero also took agood look around the area. Something about this didn't seem right.

"You think Lynx did this?" he asked.

"Zat's correct. Hmm...maybe not?" a familiar voice replied.

X turned to see Harle return. That was one face he really didn't want to see at this moment in time. And he knew having Alia around might make things worse.

"Ze correct answer iz, I did zis under Monsieur Lynx's order. Say, X, did you miss moi?" Harle added.

"Who are you?" Alia asked, obviously a little offended that she was addressing X in such a matter.

"Who iz zees? Zome hussy? I t'ink you had best leave her mon X, she iz unattractive," Harle replied.

Alia was about to defend herself, but before she had a chance, X decided to intervene on her behalf.

"What did you just say?!" X shouted.

Alia was both stunned and happy that X defended her. He never really outwardly expressed himself like that often, but seeing him do it for her..well, it made her feel like she was special to him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! Well, on to more important matterz. Excusez-moi, X, but do you want to know why I burned this place to ze ground?" Harle asked.

X's face hardened. First, she burned the area to the ground, possibly injuring someone. Second, he openly insulted Alia. And third, she was acting like she did nothing wrong. This was making X a bit agitated.

"Tell me right now Harle. Maybe if you apologize I'll have less of a reason to detain you," X threatened.

"Well, first of all to teach you all a lesson...and second of all to get rid of zat geezer who livez here. He is an ally of ze Acacia Dragoons, and I hear he's quite skilled. I waz disappointed to see zat ze geezer izn't here. I wonder where he went? And one more t'ing, X. Monsieur Lynx gave moi one more order. Zat iz to slow down your pursuit. Here I go!" Harle shouted.

X was taken completely by surprise by Harle's attack, and didn't even have time to bring up his counterattack. She lunged at him with great force, but X wasn't ready to block. So, he attempted to sidestep at the last possible moment to avoid injury. Luckily, the attack missed.

"Harle, what are you doing?" X asked.

"I am zorry to do zis, but I must, mon X," Harle repleid.

Harle once again lunged back at X, this time with an even quicker pace and what seemed to be more force as well. X was ready this time, and manged to deflect her attack by grabbing her arm and shifting it away from him. Harle regained control of the fight by thrusting her weight into a kick which struck X in the side.

X stopped himself from falling, and then once again grabbed Harle. He tried to restrict her movement so he could talk some sense into her, but she proved to be a bit too agile and shifty for him to detain. She kept trying to elude his grasp, and was doing a good job of it.

"It iz difficult to defeat you, mon X, zo I must attack your comrades, no?" Harle questioned.

X immediately gritted his teeth as he saw Harle run towards Alia. There was no way he was about to let her get hurt, even if it did mean he had to use some force to stop Harle. He didn't want to have to hurt her, but he knew he had to stop her. X immediately rushed over, and plowed into Harle with a dash attack, knocking her over.

Harle was sent flying back a bit, and missed hitting Alia. X abruptly stopped, and then stood in front of Alia to make sure she wasn't hurt. Harle then stood back up and dusted herself off.

"Ooh lah lah...you really are strong, trez fort, X. Pleaze, X, turn back now," Harle announced.

Harle then shifted her attention to Kid and Alia, although where her attention was shifted to wasn't quite clear.

"She iz not'ing but bad luck! She will bring not'ing but misfortune to your life. Au revior, mon X!" Harle added, just before leaving.


	10. Mount Pyre

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 10  
"_Mount Pyre_"  
By MEGAMANX411

X sighed as he saw Harle once again disappear. That's happened far too often. Especially considering that she not only tried to harm him, but Alia this time. There was no way X would ever stand for something like that.

"Well..looks like we haven't seen the last of her.." X muttered.

Meanwhile, Alia and Kid were both a litle startled by what Harle had said to them. They could've passed if off as common jealousy or the like, but something told them that there was something deeper to their words. Kid, being a thief and a vulgar little kid, was a bit accustomed to such insults. Alia, however, was not. She had been in this world for barely any time at all and she was already getting wrapped up in this whole mess.

Maybe coming along in the first place got her tangled up. Who knows? Even Alia, often considered the brightest at Maverick Hunter HQ, was having trouble figuring things out here. In time, everything would be revealed...but that in essence was the very problem. Waiting for the answers to be revealed was often an advantage for the enemy.

"Alia? You ok?" X asked.

Alia shook her head to free herself from her train of thought, and then gave X an innocent look.

"Yeah, I'm alright," she replied.

Slowly, an old reploid emerged from the ruined house, and appeared outside before the group. He had rather rusty and decrepit white armor, and no helmet. He didn't have hair, and wore glasses. If it were not for the armor, he could easily pass off for an elderly man. He also had deep green eyes..which gave X and company a rather worried gaze.

"Are you..with Lynx?" he asked.

"No, not at all. Honestly, we're not too sure of what he's up to, or even what his plans are.." X replied.

"Ah..I see. I knew there was something different about you. You seem trustworthy enough," the old reploid answered.

Kid was becoming rather impatient, and decided to figure out once and for all if this was the person they were looking for.

"Are ya the retired Acacia Dragoon?" Kid asked.

"Yes, I used to be an Acacia Dragoon. My name's Radius. Is there something you need of me?" he asked.

"Well..maybe first you can tell us why Lynx burned your home to the ground," Zero asked.

Radius sighed and lowered his head.

"Lynx may seem to be working in cooperation with the Acacia Dragoons and General Viper, but he is really the one pulling all the strings. He knew that I might be threat to him because of some information I hold, so that's probably why he tried to get rid of me," Radius answered.

"I see...what sort of information would that be?" X asked.

"The location of Fort Dragonia, and how to get in. You see, Lynx had joined the Acacia Dragoons rather recently, and he got in mainly because he told General Viper about a sacred treasure called the "Frozen Flame." This treasure is said to grant any wish and bestow incredible power. I'm betting that General Viper is planning on using the Frozen Flame so he can conquer the other nations to build his supposed utopia. But Lynx most definitely has other plans," Radius explained.

"Did you hear of his plans?" Alia asked.

"I do not know exactly what he is plotting, but I believe he does intend to make war with all the nations. At least I would assume so based on what I heard from him," Radius answered.

"So ya heard his plans eh? Fair enough...I want to track 'im down anyway, so tell me where he is!" Kid shouted.

"Lynx is supposedly at Fort Dragonia right now..but there is no way to reach them unless you are an Acacia Dragoon," Radius explained.

"Well, I don't think we can become Dragoons..so howcha do we reach them?" Korcha asked.

"In order to get to Fort Dragonia, you'll have to go to the top of Mount Pyre, an active volcano. This area has such intense heat that not even reploids can go through there easily. In order to do so, you'll need a special enhancement chip known as the Water Dragon's Blessing," Radius explained.

"Do you know where we can get these chips? And how do we get into Mount Pyre?" Alia asked.

"Luckily, I still have mine. Before Lynx tried to burn my place to the ground, that nasty little minion of his tried to raid my place. I , however, hid out in the basement. I managed to keep ahold of these chips. All Acacia Dragoons have them, it's how they can get in and out of Fort Dragonia. Here, take these data chips..and here's some map data. But tell me, do you plan on stopping Lynx?" Radius asked.

X turned his head to the rest of his group. He had come rather far in this quest, and he knew there was more to see. He wasn't too sure if he wanted to get his friends involved in the matter, but he didn't feel like he could quit now. Lynx was evil...there was no doubt in his mind about that, but the thing is, the evil he exhumed was still somewhat familiar. There was no way X could just forget about it and let him go.

He could've done the same thing about Sigma...he didn't. Instead, X fought Sigma with all his might. He couldn't simply let this go on. If Lynx intended to do something to manipulate the power that this item possessed, X had to go on. First, X accepted the items the old reploid offered to him, and then he gave him a very serious look.

"We'll go," X replied bluntly.

Alia gave X a worried look, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"X..are you sure about this?" Alia asked.

X nodded slowly and kept his resolve firm. He hated to fight..he especially disliked having to resort to violence. But he wasn't about to let this happen..and if his dreams meant anything, then Lynx was planning something catastrophic. X then felt Kid's hand on his other shoulder. He slowly turned around to face her.

"Ya sure about this..ya could go home..y'know?" Kid muttered.

X shook his head and then bent down so he was about eye level with Kid. He looked her straight in the eye, smiled, and patted her head.

"No..I'm staying for a little while longer. At least until I figure out what's going on..." X replied.

X then looked over to see Zero in deep thought. He looked like he was being troubled by something, but it was difficult to tell what it was. Normally when Zero was worried, it was something very bad.

"Zero? You doing alright?" X asked.

Zero immediately jerked himself out of his train of thought and returned his gaze to X. It still seemed like he wasn't fully out of his thoughts, however.

"Yeah..just thinking about something," Zero replied.

"What is it?" X asked.

"Just something..that I've been feeling. Not sure what it is, but it's familiar. Anyway..we'll probably come into contact with it sooner or later...at least I think," Zero answered.

"Well..we won't gain much just by standing here. Let's get going," Alia replied.

"I wish you all the best of luck," Radius answered.

The group turned to go back to their boat. But before X got in, he turned back and looked at Radius.

"Thank you Radius. You've been great help," X shouted.

The old reploid smirked and waved back, not uttering anything else. The group got into their boat, and then departed for the volcano basedon the information received in the data chips given to them by the old reploid. It was a good thing Alia was constructing a map in her personal database, largely because that was making this foreign world a bit more recognizable.

Soon, they came to the volcano..it wasn't incredibly large, but still very big by most standards. The heat being emitted by it was very great indeed, and most normal reploids would have been literally melting by now. Luckily for X, that old man had given them some enhancement chips to withstand the heat (that of course, didn't make things comfortable, just survivable).

"Man..it's an oven in here.." Zero muttered.

"Yeah..those Dragoons really don't want any unwanted guests," Alia added.

"Well..given the fact that this heat is separating us from the fort, do you think there are any guards here?" X asked.

"I don't know..this alone keeps most people away, but I suppose if someone did manage to steal those chips...eh, either way we'll find out sooner or later," Zero replied.

That last comment Zero made wasn't exactly reassuring for the whole group. They did reason that since it was so difficult to get there in the first place, maybe security wouldn't be heavy. However, knowing how special this place must be, then maybe it is. After all, if a legendary treasure is said to be there, then chances are they're gonna protect it.

The group trudged on, taking special care not to accidentally get damaged from the extremely hot vents or the volcanic materials. Even though they were very tough reploids, that could still be quite painful. Soon, they saw the exit of the volcano.

"Whew..finally..the end of this place," Alia muttered, wiping her forehead.

"Yeah, it's the end. For you guys," a figure answered.

X and Zero instinctively readied themselves for battle. X stood with his X-Buster ready to fire, while Zero kept a firm grip on his saber. All of the sudden, three familiar figures came back down. Karsh, Zoah, and Marcy..the Acacia Dragoons.

"You!" Zero shouted.

Karsh merely cracked his knuckles and gave X and company a superior smirk. He then swung his axe around a bit to prove he meant business.

"Nice to see you guys again. But I'm afraid I can't let you get through here," Karsh added.

"You're going down!" Zoah shouted.

"X! I hate you so much! And I hate your friends too!" Marcy added.

Karsh chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Heh..what can I say, the girl doesn't like you very much X. You may have gotten lucky back when it was all of you against us individually, but I'm confident we'll have better chances this time around," Karsh added.

The medium-sized blue-haired reploid walked a bit closer to X, holding his energy axe out in front of him. His build was comparable to Zero's...it was obvious that he definitely was an accomplished fighter by the looks of it. Behind him trudged Zoah, the truly massive humanoid reploid. He was such a huge figure..but by the looks of it, he may lack in the department of tactics.

After that came Marcy..such a deceptive reploid. So seemingly small, harmless, and innocent, but actually, a vicious fighter with a severe temper. Of course, she is still just a child..perhaps her irrational behavior could prove to be her downfall, or at least that's what X had hoped. After all, if this was going to be a battle with all of them, it might take some extra planning.

X knew that Karsh would be difficult to take down. He probably learned his lesson from the last time they fought..he didn't suspect Karsh to be that thick or arrogant. Zoah may be somehwat easy largely because he isn't completely aware of certain tactics X could employ..but then again, Zoah did compensate with immense physical strength, and futhermore, Karsh might be able to give him a heads-up.

Then there's Marcy. Her restrictive attacks might prove to be quite annoying considering the others could attack while she simply held X and company in place. That would be a definite bother to overcome.

"So you plan on going to Fort Dragonia, hm?" Karsh asked.

"Karsh, I don't wish to fight you. All we want is to stop Lynx," X replied.

"Sir Lynx is a friend of General Viper's. If you have a problem with him, you have one with me," Karsh answered.

"But you don't understand! Lynx isn't really a friend at all, he's manipulating Viper!" X shouted.

"Meh. Like I should believe you. The fact is, you cannot pass here," Marcy answered. "Now let's get to fighting!"

"Wait!" X shouted.

However, X's protest fell on deaf ears and the battle began. Karsh began to rush at X with a mad attack from his axe. However, X wasn't going to let himself be killed, so he brought up his buster to counter. Before he could do so, Marcy threw her strings around him, and constricted his arms. X's arms were then tied to his sides, so he couldn't bring up his buster!

"Time to die X!" Karsh shouted.

"I don't think so!" Alia replied.

Before Karsh could bring his axe down on X's head, Alia shot a blast from her own buster arm and hit Karsh square in the chest. He got knocked back quite a bit, but quickly regained his composure. Meanwhile, Zoah came charging in, and threatened to knock everyone down. Zero quickly stood out in front with his saber ready to try and block him.

Kid was beside Zero with her daggers in hand, while Korcha was beside Alia. Korcha didn't really have any formidable weapons, so he tried to stay out of the fight. Alia bent down and whispered into his ear.

"Korcha..I need you to untie X. I'll make a distraction," Alia whispered.

"Youcha..sure about this?" Korcha asked.

"Yes, I am, just go!" Alia replied.

Korcha slowly walked behind Alia, and tried to get to X amidst the battle. Zero and Kid were having a heck of a time trying their best to not be crushed by Zoah's weight. The huge reploid kept on coming no matter what they dished out, and even their team attacks proved to be somewhat difficult to unleash.

Meanwhile, Karsh was striking at X, who was also having a difficult time dodging. X was a bit tied-up to say the least, so he couldn't exactly fight back as well as he wanted to. And finally, Marcy was going against Alia. Both of which were actually skilled in fighting, but not really recognized for it. Marcy proved to be a bit too nimble for Alia to hit her, but Alia's attacks made sure that Marcy couldn't counter and turn the tides.

However, Marcy did mange to keep a hold of the strings she was using to bind X. That was exactly what Alia was trying to remedy. When Karsh saw that Korcha was trying to sever the string, he rushed after him and tried to hit him with his axe. X quickly saved him by ramming himself into Karsh. However, Zoah then bodyslammed X and sent him flying the other way.

Before Zoah could celebrate that attack, Zero leaped on his back and tried to bring his saber down on his head. However, Marcy stopped him by getting ahold of his hands..and worse, making him drop his saber to the ground. Alia quickly dashed over to try and give it back to Zero, but Karsh grabbed a hold of her.

It was then that X burst out of his bonds, and clearly enraged that Karsh was trying to hurt Alia. He was definitely not to going to stand for that.

"Get away from her you, creep!!" X shouted.

X slammed his shoulder into Karsh, and then followed it up with a charged buster blast at close range, knocking Karsh clear into the wall. The powerful reploid slammed against the hard volcanic wall and then fell to the ground, struggling to get back up. Amidst the confusion, Zoah grabbed Kid, and then started swining her around.

"Put her down!" Zero shouted, picking his saber back up.

"Gladly!" Zoah replied.

Zoah then hurled Kid back at Zero. However, Zero was ready and managed to grab Kid and set her down. He then rushed back at Zoah with his saber flying.

"Oh no you don't!" Marcy shouted.

"No YOU don't!" Kid answered.

Before Marcy could use her strings to restrict Zero, Kid came down and dropkicked her, knocking her back quite a bit. Marcy struggled back to her feet and then got back into her fighting position.

"Oooh..that hurt..I'm gonna make you pay for that one!" Marcy shouted.

"Bring it on ya loser!" Kid replied.

All of the sudden, Karsh's axe came flying in, and threatened to cleave Kid in two. However, Alia rushed in and knocked Kid out of harm's way.

"Are you alright Kid?" Alia asked.

"Yes..I am..but.." Kid muttered, clearly dumbfounded that the person she antagonized saved her.

Meanwhile, Zero was in a stalemate with Zoah. Zoah slammed his fists against the ground to try and get Zero to lose his imbalance, but the red hunter leaped into the air to gain the upper hand. He then came back down with an aerial attack. However, Zoah grabbed Zero before his attack could lead to anything potentially harmful to him, and then started to apply his crushing grip.

X then blasted Zoah in the back to try and get Zoah to drop his friend, but Karsh kicked X in the side and knocked the wind out of him. However, Alia proved to be helpful here by also blasting Zoah, forcing him to drop Zero. When Zoah was stunned, Zero stabbed him in the side.

Zoah bent over and clutched his wound, trying to get back into the battle. He rushed back at Zero in a mad frenzy.

"I've had enough of you!" Zero shouted.

Zero grabbed ahold of Zoah, bent backwards, and then kicked him back the other direction straight at Marcy. The gigantic reploid landed on top of Marcy, really restricting her movement with his crushing weight. All that left was Karsh.

"Grr....we may have lost for now. But we'll be back later," Karsh spat.

X clutched his side and was heaving breaths. But despite the pain he felt, he raised his buster and aimed it at Karsh.

"If you try to harm my friends, I will fight you until I have taken my last breath," X replied.

"Meh..tough words, nothing more," Karsh mocked.

Karsh, Marcy, and Zoah then teleported out of the room, obviously heading back for matenaince. They were very badly damaged from the fight..something that X didn't wish for, but had to do. X turned back to the group.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked.

Zero placed a hand on his shouler and did some stretches, but nodded his head in confirmation. Kid also nodded, so did Korcha (who participated in very little of the fighting), and Alia.

"Alia..look..thank ya for savin' me.." Kid muttered.

"Kid, it's not like I dislike you or anything, and I'm not trying to compete with you. I just hope we can be friends," Alia replied, smiling.

Kid responded with a smile of her own, and nodded back.

"Yeah..well, let's git going. Lynx is just ahead," Kid replied.

"Yeah. This is it. Lynx, we're coming for you," X muttered.


	11. Dreams Realized

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 11  
"_Dreams Realized"_  
By MEGAMANX411

The group walked into Fort Dragonia, and were utterly amazed at how elaborate it appeared. G old plating appeared on many things, and there were many intricate designs on the walls. The metals used were not only very tough, but attractive. The building itself was enormous and incredible.

"Oh ho ho...it vould zeem you are 'ere," a voice anounced.

X instinctively raised his buster in retaliation. He aimed his arm at the direction of the sound...to find Harle standing there.

"Harle..what are you doing here?" X asked.

"My, my, mon X. You are a handsome one," Harle muttered.

Alia was fuming a bit at that remark, but she didn't say much back. She didn't want to make things any more troublesome than they were now.

"What is it you want with me Harle? X asked bluntly.

"Mon X...I will not stop you..but please..don't die," Harle whispered.

"What..?" X muttered, lowering his buster.

Did this mean Harle wasn't necessarily evil after all? Was she an unwilling servant to Lynx? Or was she really that devoted to X? X didn't really know at this point..there were many things he had occupying his mind, so sorting them out was a bit troublesome.

"You may proceed, mon X..." Harle added, bowing.

"Um..thank you, Harle," X replied.

X motioned for the rest to follow him, and they reluctantly did so. Many didn't really trust Harle quite yet..after all, she attacked them the last time they met. Just trusting her may have come easy to X, but not to everyone else. As she walked by, Kid gave Harle a harsh glare.

"If you try anythin' funny, I'm gonna gut ya," Kid muttered.

"Oh la la, such a temper," Harle mocked.

Kid merely snorted defiantly, and turned away. She ran to catch up to X and the others, while Harle went off somewhere on her own. They left that room and came to a rather elaborte maze. The walls were incredibly high, but that wasn't the problem. The metal was incredibly strong, reflective, and slick. It would be difficult to wall jump on them, and shooting them may not be a good idea. The blasts might reflect back at them.

"Hm..I don't think shooting these walls down might be a good idea. Let's just try going through the maze," X offered.

Zero shrugged his shoulders.

"Meh, works for me. Which way?" he asked.

"Um..I..don't know," X muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"I think I have an idea," Alia answered.

"Let's hear it!" X shouted, obviously enthused.

"Well..how about we split up, and have someone stay back at the entrance. If someone gets lost, they can communicate back with the person at the entrance. Then, when one person reaches the end, he or she can communicate with the others to give them directions on how to get there. Does that sound good to you?" Alia asked.

"Yeah, but who's gonna stay at the back?" Zero replied.

Korcha quickly raised his hand, obviously wanting the easier job.

"Me!" he shouted.

"OK, Korcha will stay at the startcha...ack! Now he's got me doing it.." Zero muttered, shaking his head.

X was inwardly laughing at that last statement Zero made, but he decided to hold it in for the general seriousness of matters here. X, Zero, Kid, and Alia all split up, going their own way in the maze. There were many, many twists and turns in the maze, and it made things all the more frustrating.

"Damn! Dead end!" Kid shouted, kicking her feet.

Kid was the first out, her way was a dead end. That just left X, Zero, and Alia. They kept going. Eventually, Alia and Zero ran into each other at the same spot. Another dead end, unfortunately.

"Well, looks like we've headed the wrong way...X, this is Alia and Zero. We're stuck at a dead end," Zero announced.

"Ok guys, just head back to the entrance. Where's Kid?" X asked.

"I'm stuck too..." Kid muttered.

"Head back to the entrance, I'll keep going," X replied.

X then came to wall. He was completely shocked. If everyone else came to a dead end, then how could his way be a dead end too? There had to be at least one right way in a maze, that's the way mazes work..or at least most conventional and effective mazes did.

"Hm..something's not right here.." X whispered.

X decided to think on the matter, so he leaned up against the wall to take a breather and think on matters. As he did so, he felt the wall go inward, like a button.

"Aha! There must have been a switch on this wall!" X shouted.

As the switch was activated, all of the walls lowered, and the maze was no more. Alia, Zero, Kid, and Korcha walked over to X.

"Alright everyone..that's one thing down. Let's keep going, but stay close. Things might get dangerous," X announced.

Zero smirked and tightened his grip on his saber. If things got dangerous, that would make things all the more fun for him. Zero was always one for a challenge. The next room they got to was a somewhat small room, with several colored panels on the floor and a panel on the door with some message inscribed on it. The door was sealed shut at the moment.

"Let's see...'_Dragoons are comprised of Head, Body, and Tail'_...wonder what that is supposed to mean?" Zero asked.

"Maybe it has something to do with these panels?" Alia asked, pointing to the tiles underneath the group.

X looked down at the panels and shrugged his shoulders. It was the most obvious thingin the room, so it couldn't hurt to try it out.

"It couldn't hurt to try," X replied.

Kid scratched her head. She understood that the tiles stuck out like a sore thumb, but what exactly where they supposed to do with them?

"OK...so what do we do with them?" Kid asked.

"Hm..maybe we need to stand in order?" X offered.

"But what's the order?" Zero asked.

Meanwhile, Alia was busy trying to think of the proper order to tackle this puzzle. She thought for a moment, and repeated the clues to herself.

"Head, body, and tail..." Alia whispered.

X placed a hand on her shoulder to see if Alia was alright. He just wanted to make sure that nothing was troubling her.

"What was that Alia?" X asked.

"I think we need to stand in the order revelant to each body part. The head, the body, and the tail. I'm not sure if it matters what person stands in that space, but I think we just need to have three people stand there. If the titles have any relevance, then the head should be the smallest, the body should be the heaviest, and the tail should be the longest," Alia muttered.

"Then I guess that means you should be the body," Kid teased.

"What was that?!" Alia shouted.

X immediately got inbetween Alia and Kid to try and prevent any inevitable fight from going on.

"Whew..this is certainly not the time for this kind of on, we need to work together," X announced.

"Alright, alright..sorry Alia," Kid muttered.

Kid was always one used to teasing, so doing so was not a very big deal to her. She pretty much always did it, even to people she liked. And Alia was gaining respect in her eyes, largely because of what she did when they fought against those Dragoons. Alia, however, didn't appreciate such a comment..but she just let it go, she wasn't one to hold grudges.

"Alright, I guess that means Kid should go first, then X, then Zero..." Alia muttered.

They tried doing so. It didn't work, and the door ahead of them refused to open.

"Hmm..maybe there's something we're missing.." Zero muttered.

"I got it! The tail! It should be longer, not taller. That means me and Korcha should stand behind Zero," Alia added.

The group stood on their respective panels in that order...and the door then thrust itself open!

"Great work Alia!" X shouted.

Alia blushed at the comment, but tried to not let it get to her head. She merely thanked X promptly and then followed after him. The group then came to an elevator-like device..and that's when it hit X.

"This is..like my dream..." X muttered.

Alia's eyes widened at what X said. Something about it was very cryptic and mysterious. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you ok X?" she asked.

X immediately shook his head to try and free himself from his thoughts and returned his attention to Alia.

"Oh, I'm fine..it's nothing," X replied, obviously blatantly lying.

X then thought about his dream. This was going the same way..in a sense. But the group of people was different. In his dream, he had Niki, Kid, Korcha, and Zero with him. This time around, X did have Kid, Korcha, and Zero around, but not Niki. Alia was here this time. Also, Kid didn't say her line that she did in X's dream...was something different?

Were X's dreams not inevitable? If so..did that mean he had a chance to alter what he saw? Was his supposed fate not predestined? Was it merely a warning? Whatever the case, X was now more determined than ever to test out his theory. As they reached the door to the next room, X then saw another vision.

He saw himself, coated in blood. He saw his friends laying on the floor. And he saw that he was smiling...a vicious, malevolent smile that brought terror. X shook his head.

"You feelin' ok man?" Kid asked.

"Yeah..let's go," X replied.

X then opened the door to the next room. And in the center rested the legendary treasure. The Frozen Flame...but it actually was a force metal. Not anything that seemed somewhat magical, but a piece of force metal..that no doubt held immense power.

"That's..it..the Frozen Flame.." Kid muttered.

"What are you doing here?" Viper asked.

The group then turned their attention to General Viper, who was in the room.

"Oh, General Viper. We came to speak to you about Lynx," X announced.

"About Lynx? What the devil are you talking about?" Viper asked.

"He's trying to backstab you. We talked to one of your Dragoons, Radius..he told us about Lynx," Zero replied.

"Is that so..?" Viper asked. "Well, I have the Frozen Flame, so he won't try anything.

All of the sudden, a blade poke through Viper's chest. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw his reploid blood coated on the cold blade in front of him. The weapon wasn't just barely through him, it was practically all the way through his chest...and it tore his upper half to shreds. Viper went into a state of shock. He couldn't even scream in pain.

"Lynx!" X shouted, raising his buster.

"The Frozen Flame..and you..are mine," Lynx hissed.

X was in a state of pure terror as he saw Lynx remove his scythe from Viper's chest. Viper fell to the floor, and his reploid blood oozed outwards. Lynx just stood there, proud of his handiwork. He was undeniably evil, and that made X cringe.

"Lynx..you...vile...evil.." X muttered, clearly too stunned to formulate a full sentence.

"X, have you ever wondered what you truly are? Deep down, what is it that makes you..you?" Lynx hissed.

X couldn't take this anymore. He had to put a stop to Lynx right here and now. His body coursed with feelings of determination, courage, fear, anger...a veritable rush of emotion that threw him into a frenzy.

"Stop Lynx! I have nothing to say to you!" X shouted.

Lynx merely put his scythe over his shoulder and gave X a cold stare. He slowly walked up to them, the scythe nimbly bouncing on his shoulders as he moved. X cringed with disgust, but kept his buster aimed steadily. Zero was getting rather ticked himself, and held his saber firmly. He was ready to start slicing and dicing.

Kid, on the other hand, was getting excited. This was her chance to exact her revenge on Lynx, and she wasn't about to waste it. Alia and Korcha were both a bit scared at this sight, and didn't exactly know what to do.

"Lynx! Time to meet yer maker!" Kid shouted.

"What an annoying child. You weaklings are no match for evena shadow of mine," Lynx replied.

"That's it! I've had enough of your boasting you litter-box freak!" Zero shouted.

Zero rushed at Lynx with his saber going into a powerful thrust attack. Lynx nimbly dodged by sidestepping gracefully, making Zero stumble forward a bit. Kid tried to follow up on his attack by stabbing Lynx in the face with an energy dagger, but he proved too quick. He grabbed Kid's hands, made her drop her daggers, and threw her to the ground afterward.

X then blasted Lynx, hitting him in the chest. He clearly wasn't ready for that one. He gritted his teeth, and then disappeared into the shadows once again. X kept his buster arm steady as he tried to see where he would resurface.

"Where'd he go this time..?" X muttered.

"Watch out X!" Alia shouted, pointing just above X.

Lynx tried to come down on top of X with his scythe, but thanks to Alia's warning, he managed to escape just in time. Zero tried to slice Lynx where he landed, but he quickly vanished again. Zero and Kid stood back to back while X was aiming. Alia, in the mean time, was a bit frightened. She didn't fight often, and this fight seemed to be particularly threatening...she wasn't too sure what to do.

"There!" Alia shouted.

Zero then wheeled himself around and thrust his saber at where Alia pointed to, and he almost hit Lynx. He just barely missed because the cat-like human was far too nimble. Kid tried her hand at defeating Lynx, but every attack was blocked. X tried to fire again, but his shots proved to be ineffective.

"Don't you see? X, what is your fate? Do you even know? That ominous fate...you should have died years ago when you faced Sigma. Why is it you live?" Lynx asked.

"Shut up! Get out of my head!" X shouted.

X then blasted at Lynx, knocking him over. Before he got back up to his feet, Zero and Kid stood over him with their weapons pointed downward. Lynx was dumbfounded...he was defeated? But how? He was so superior in technique.

"Argh...how? You bested me? Enough," Lynx hissed.

Just then, a ringing noise went into X's head. It grew louder and louder by the moment, and the intense pain it induced kept growing and growing. It felt like there was a whistle blowing loudly in his head..and it kept getting louder. X clutched his head and fell to his knees.

"Lynx, what are you doing to X?!" Alia screamed.

Lynx didn't say anything. He merely kept completely still. Suddenly, an orb of light came out of his body and slammed into X. X's shadow..then changed. It looked like Lynx's. X slowly stood back up, not saying a word.

"X..are you ok..?" Zero asked.

"Yes, I am fine. Let's finish Lynx," X, or who they assumed was X, answered.

Lynx then stood back up. But his shadow didn't look the same..it looked like..X's. That's when it hit X. He was in Lynx's body! He had somehow switched places with Lynx! He tried to call out, but all this body limited him to were feral roars and yelps. Apparently manipulating speech in this body was different than X's old body. Not to mention how weak it felt..apparently Lynx purposely let X hit him so that when they switched, his body would be too hard to move.

"Come on Kid, let's get him. For Lucca.." Lynx, in X's body, hissed.

Kid suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, and dropped her weapons. She looked back at X, both horrified and curious.

"X..not once..did I tell you about Lucca," Kid whispered.

"What do you mean Kid?" Lynx replied.

"You..you're...!" Kid stammered.

Inwardly, the real X was screaming. He couldn't tell his friends that this was all a lie!

"_I'm X! Kid, don't get near him! Get away from him, that's not really me! He'll kill you, get away!_" X screamed.

Lynx, in X's body, quickly snatched up Kid's dagger and stabbed her with it. As he reploid blood began to spill out, a sadistic smirk appeared on Lynx's face. The smile made so much sense to X now. It wasn't really him doing it..it was Lynx. That's why it seemed so evil.

"X, what the hell are you doing?!" Zero shouted.

Lynx then looked back at Zero, Korcha, and Alia. That malicious smile remained on his face. X still kept trying to call out to his friends, but nothing worked. When he shouted, his voice only remained in his head.

"_No! Alia, Zero, ! Get away while you can!"_ X cried.

Zero stood still, completely dumbfounded as to what was wrong with his friend. Alia and Korcha were both horrified and could barely move.

"That's...that's..not X..." Alia whispered.

"What?" Zero asked.

Before Zero could inquire on the matter further, he felt a dagger thrust into his stomach. Lynx smiled viciously as he looked into Zero's face. Lynx removed the dagger and then pushed Zero over, clearly in delight of the pain he had caused. That just left Alia and Korcha.

"_Stop it! Stop, leave them alone damn it! Leave them alone!!"_ X screamed.

Alia stood in front of Korcha to try and protect him from harm, but Lynx proved to be rather powerful while in X's body. He tossed Alia aside like nothing and took care of Korcha. Lynx then turned back to X, and smirked.

"Well, well, look at you X...or should Isay Lynx? Ha ha ha! Excellent! The enmity is growing! The only thing pure in this world is enmity! Well then, the time has come for the curtain to fall. Your services are no longer needed. Even your very existence is worthless. Farewell, X," Lynx hissed.

X inwardly screamed and raged. But there was little he could do. Lynx then walked up and took the Frozen Flame.

"Ah..now I have the key. This is the key to fate. This is what controls everything, and now I have it! X, come to the Sea of Eden if you wish to discover fate...I will be waiting for you," Lynx replied.

The words Lynx spoke rang through X's mind, but he started to become groggy. Everything was turning hazy...and X then passed out.


	12. Separation

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 12  
"_Separation_"  
By MEGAMANX411

X finally woke up after what seemed to be one of the longest rests he had ever taken. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up. That's when he remembered what happened. He looked back down at his hands to see if it was true...unfortunately, he was still in Lynx's body.

"Damn...what have I become?" X whispered.

X slowly got to his feet and looked around. He was pleased that at the least he could seem to talk now..back at Fort Dragonia, he somehow lost his voice when he was first placed in Lynx's body. But something else bugged him. This place was incredibly strange and surreal. It was almost like his home, but things seemed blurred and hazy. It was like he saw his world through different eyes. Just then, X heard a familair voice.

"You are tres late, non? Come on, Monsieur Lynx, let'z go. We don't have ze time to be dawdling here. We may truly get lost in time. I can't afford to lose you just yet," the voice announced.

X wheeled himself around to see the face of Harle. He knew she'd have something to do with this. He wanted to trust her too, which made things all the worse.

"Harle! I'm not Lynx, I'm X! And what do you mean lost in time?" X asked.

"You are no longer X. You are Monsieur Lynx. And vat I mean is that we are not in my world, our yours. We are inbetween," Harle replied, showing little emotion.

X was more angered by the fact that Harle kept calling him Lynx. X did not want to be associated with that murderous, bloodthirsty monster.

"But I'm X!" X shouted.

"Allons, regarde-toi! Just look at yourself. Who in zeir right mind iz going to believe you are X? C'est simple. If everybody, except for yourself, sayz zat you are Monsieur Lynx, zen, voila! You are Monsieur Lynx! It'z az simple az zat. Zat iz who you are! If you try and go against realite,it will surely crush you. Realite will kill you, and realite will continue to go on az if not'ing ever happened...from yesterday to today, and from today to tomorrow, realite marchez on, leaving your crushed body behind," Harle answered.

X clenched his fist and looked angrily back at Harle. He was getting tired of this. So she was saying that because others saw him as Lynx, that made him Lynx? That was ridiculous!

"Harle, enough is enough! I told you for the last time, I'm X!" X shouted.

Harle smiled and chuckled at X's reponse. She was clearly having fun with this, mostly at X's expense.

"Ooh la lah...so, you still insist zat you are X, oui? Regardless your memoire az zis X, you may be able to rewrite it if you use ze Dragon Tear. In realite, you diedyearz ago in ze odder world. How can you say for sure zis iz ze real you? Maybe for you it is evident, but...I wonder if you ever really were X? Furthermore, what waz zis X? A figure, a shape? A spirit? A soul? Where waz zis X?" Harle asked.

"Shut up Harle! I've had enough of this! Take me back right now!" X answered.

"Oh, you are so boring. Fine, I understand how you feel, let's head back," Harle answered.

"You're going to take me back?" X asked.

"But of course," Harle answered, taking X's hand.

X felt Harle tightly clutch his hand and lead him into a strange doorway. He then felt his body being slammed through the portal as if he were but an insignificant speck of dust being flicked across a seemingly infinite ocean of stars. After he finally regained full awareness, X saw that he was just outside of Termina.

X slowly walked into Termina, almost forgetting that he was in Lynx's body. It was a bit easy to forget that your appearance was completely different at times. X looked back to see that Harle was still following him.

"Why are you following me?" X asked.

"Oh la la, why not?" Harle replied.

X shook his head and thought it best not to press the matter further. He really didn't care for her company, but he didn't have the energy or will to argue with her at the moment. For one, he was someone else's body, and two, he was separated from his friends. But X didn't realize that there was something worse.

"There's soldiers everywhere..." X whispered, looking around.

Granted, X did come off as a bit suspcious no matter what he did, so he thought trying to blend would be a bit futile. There were soldiers everywhere, and they didn't appear to be Dragoons.

"You there! Aren't you Sir Lynx?" a soldier shouted.

"No, I'm-" X muttered.

"Oui, he iz Sir Lynx," Harle answered, cutting X off.

"I'm not Lynx, Harle," X whispered.

The soldier didn't seem to pay much attention to what X said and instead pointed in the direction of Viper Mansion.

"Sir Lynx, your presence is requested at the Viper estate. Please go there immediately," the solider ordered.

X shook his head and decided to remain quiet. If he protested that he was Lynx, he thought that he may end up being in big trouble. So he just concluded that he should go to Viper Mansion and see what was there..he might uncover some information or even run into one of his friends.

"Ah, it's good to see you here Sir Lynx. Currently, we have soldiers spread out to search Viper Mansion. You should report toCommander Norris, he is in charge here," the soldier commented.

X merely nodded and played along. He had no idea what was going on but he didn't want to cause any trouble. But what confused him is that these soldiers had a patch on their uniform saying they were from Porre. That must have meant that Lynx made a deal with them before hand, and that when Viper was gone, Porre soldiers invaded. But the problem was..X had no idea what Lynx had done previously.

X was then brought into the basement of the mansion, where he came up to a black-armored reploid. He had a fairly medium build, about the same size as X. He had dark black armor with some purple stripes on it, and his hair was short and blonde. Athis side he carried a rather large energy pistol weapon. But most importantly, X could see that he had a certain kindness to him that was apparent in his eys. That might make convincing him he was X easier. Meanwhile, Harle was standing behind X, not saying anything because she knew that X would get angry with her.

"Are you Sir Lynx?" Norris asked.

"No, I'm not. You misunderstand, I'm not really Lynx at all, my name is X," X replied, rushing his words a bit.

Norris narrowed his eys a bit, mostly from confusion, and put his paperwork he was holding down. He looked back at X and gave him a confused stare.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Harle then tugged at X's arms, trying to get his attention.

"But mon Lynx! You are Lynx!" Harle protested.

"Enough Harle! I have to tell him the truth! Look, Mr. Norris, my name is Mega Man X. I'm not from here. While I was investigating Fort Dragonia, I came into contact with Lynx. He somehow took over my body, and forced me into his!" X shouted.

Norris' eyes winced from curisousity. He thought for a moment and gave X a good hard look.

"You don't seem like Lynx...you look a lot different than before," Norris commented.

"I'm not Lynx, I'm X. You have to believe me!" X replied.

Norris shrugged his shoulders. He was a trustworthy guy, and he generally respected people. He didn't believe them to be liars. And this person before him acted nothing like the Lynx he knew previously. This person had an aura of kindness about him, whereas the old Lynx had a feeling of malice.

"Alright, I'll trust you on this one...but honestly, can you give me any proof that you're not Lynx?" Norris asked.

"Well..I can't really prove it to you, but if we see my friends, they'll tell you," X answered.

"Hm..well, I suppose that's a good ananswer as any," Norris replied.

"So..is there anything you can tell me about Lynx, or what happened here?" X asked.

"Well, it was actually Sir Lynx who approached us about the existence of the Frozen Flame in El Nido. Being from the main continent, we had doubted its very existence, so I was sent to El Nidoas a spy. I had narrowed down the location to Viper Mansion, but it appeared as though General Viper and his men were in search of it as well. Eventually, I was called back to Porre, but it was then that I heard General Viper and his men had disappeared and that the manor had been destroyed as such. I heard only recently that there is good evidence the general and his men headed to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is an ocean located to the east, surrounded by coral. It used to be called the Sea of Eden, but even then, not many dared enter. We investigated the area, but to no avail. We could find no entrance. It is you, Sir Lynx, who wished to change this distorted world using the Frozen Flame," Norris announced.

X's eyes widened when he heard of Lynx's plan. He wanted to change the world? But the Frozen Flame was merely a force metal...what could he do with it? It must be meant for using it on something else.

"Ooh la lah! Such grand dreamz Monsieur Lynx!" Harle added.

X gave Harle a hard glare.

"Hush up," X muttered.

X then turned back to Norris.

"Well..we've got to get there, actually. That, and find my friends," X added.

"Are you actually planning to go to the Dead Sea? There is no way to get in there. We searched all over for an entrance, but to no avail. No one knows anything about it, either. But if you insist on going, then...may I join you, sir? I want to know. Iwant to know if the Frozen Flame really exists, and about everything else that has happened here," Norris answered.

"Alright, we can go together," X answered.

Norris then looked back at Harle and gave her a confused look.

"What about her?" he asked.

The situation clearly did not faze Harle one bit, because she kept her typical nonchalant and arrogant persona.

"Hm? Moi? But of course! I will follow zis Monsieur Lynx! Ze odder one iz no longuer Monsieur Lynx," Harle answered.

X turned back to Norris. He wanted to ask if there was any record of his friends being held prisoner.

"Norris? Are your soldiers holding anyone prisoner currently?" X asked.

"There are some. Why do you ask?" Norris replied.

"Well..I wanted to see if maybe my friends were among them. Also, Viper was at Fort Dragonia, I was wondering if he was ok," X asked.

"I'm not sure about Viper, but currently Miss Riddel is being held upstairs. As for you friends, you'd have to describe them for me,l " Norris muttered.

"Well, first there'sa reploid by the name of Zero. He hasred armor, and is a bit of a hot head. He also have very long blonde hair, and he carries an energy saber with him. Also, there's Alia. She's a very..ahem..cute reploid with blonde hair, and she's very kind and intelligent. Her hair is about shoulder length, and she also has deep blue eyes. She probably has some nagivation equipment with her and her armor ispink and red. There are also two reploids by the name of Kid and Korcha. Kid is a young reploid girl with a bit of an attitude, and she has red armor and blonde hair. She carries energy daggers with her. Korcha is another child reploid, but with red hair. Do you know any of them?" X asked.

"Hm...I'll check the records, hold on a moment," Norris answered.

Norris looked back at his paperwork and scanned through the pages. He stopped at the second to last page and put his finger down on a particular piece of information.

"Aha...here it is. We found a bunch of people fitting the description you gave at Fort Dragonia. They are being held in the medical quarters because of injuries," Norris answered.

X's eyes gleamed with excitement. He had found his friends! Finally, a stroke of luck!

"Alright, can I see them?" X asked.

"Well..alright, I'll take you to them," Norris replied.

Norris lead X to the medical quarters and unlocked the door. X walked inside, forgetting that he looked like Lynx. He expected his friends to return the favor with open arms, but instead, he saw mixed feelings of surprise and rage in their eyes. Especially by Zero and Kid.

"Guys! You're ok!" X shouted.

Kid grabbed her energy daggers which laid on a nearby desk and charged at X, not realizing that he was X. Zero joined her with his own saber, clearly not wanting to stop to think things out rationally.

"Lynx you dirty rotten..!" Kid screamed, lunging at X.

"Lynx! You killed my best friend you bastard!" Zero added.

X quickly tried to get away, doing his best to avoid the unexpected attack. Having an experienced hunter and a nimble thief after you with weapons in hand wasn't something X was prepared for.

"Kid, Zero, wait are you doing, it's me!" X shouted.

"Don't you lie to me! You..you..!" Kid screamed.

"You're not getting away this time!" Zero added, keeping a firm grip on his saber.

Alia's eyes widened as she saw this person who everyone assumed was Lynx act. He didn't seem like Lynx at all..not to Alia, anyway. She knew something was different.

"Wait you two!" Alia shouted.

Kid slowly dropped her daggers to the ground and she slowly sobbed. She thought that X was gone for good, thanks to what Lynx had done. Zero merely kept his gaze focused on X, who he assumed was Lynx. Above all else, Zero wanted to kill Lynx for vengeance at this point. Meanwhile, Korcha sat back clearly too stunned to reac.

Alia slowly walked past Kid to see X. She stopped when she got very close to him, and she looked deeply into his eyes.

"You're..not Lynx.." Alia whispered.

Kid wheeled herself around and gave Alia a harsh stare.

"What are you talkin' about! He is Lynx, and he killed X!" Kid screamed.

"No, you don't get it...he is X.." Alia whispered, clearly in awe.

"I'm sorry, everyone.." X muttered, handing his head low.

Alia immediately placed her hand on X's cheek and looked back into his eyes. She smiled softly as she looked at him, and saw that flicker of kindness in his eyes. Those eyes definitely belonged to X, not Lynx.

"It's you..isn't it?" Alia asked.

"Yes..it's me. I don't know how it happened, but this is what I am now.." X muttered.

Zero slowly put his saber away and walked up to X. He gave him a harsh stare, and then looked back at Alia. She seemed so certain he was X...but Zero couldn't be too cautious. He may appear hot-heated by many, but Zero still was smart.

"How can you be X?" Zero asked.

X looked back at Zero and extended his hand.

"Zero, you remember? As long as we share our bond, we'll remain friends. We'll always be together," X announced.

Zero's eyes widened with surprise. He slowly and reluctantly took X's hand. Even though the hand technically belonged to Lynx, Zero knew that the bond felt familiar.

"You..are X.." Zero muttered.

Kid was next. She slowly walked past Zero and Alia, and grabbed ahold of X. She had a grudge against Lynx for the longest time, so getting her trust was not that easy. X merely smiled, bent down, and patted her head.

"Kid..it's me. Trust me," X whispered.

Kid's eyes widened, and a single tear streamed down her cheek.

"X..it's really you," Kid muttered, looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry to have worried you guys, but it's good to see that you are all well," X announced.

Zero then turned to see Norris. Granted, when he was taken into custody, he was unconcious, so he had no idea who brought him in.

"Who's this guy?" Zero asked.

"My name is Norris. I am the commanding officer here, and I am the one who placed you in the medical district for instensive care," Norris answered.

"Oh..thank you very much, Commander Norris," Alia replied.

"Well, once you all make your preparations, there is a boat at the Termina dock we can use to leave. I suspect you may want to sort some things out before we leave, so I will wait by the boat," Norris announced.

"Alright, we'll meet you there in a few. We have some things to discuss first," X answered.

The group watched as Norris opened the door and left, and made his way to the docks to await any further notice. X turned back to Kid and gave her a hard look.

"Kid..I want you to tell me why you hate Lynx so much," X commanded.

Kid gritted her teeth and hung her head low, clearly not wanting to bring up painful memories.

"Kid, things won't get any better if you don't tell me," X added.

Kid lightly sighed and a look of defeat washed over her.

"Alright..I'll tell you. Some time ago, my mom, Lucca, used to work with machines. She was an assistant to a man named Dr. Doppler, I think. Anyway, a reploid showed up one day and ordered Dr. Doppler to make a machine for him. My mom didn't wanna do it, so the reploid sent Lynx after us. He killed her, and burnt our place to the ground. I didn't have a family after that...so I joined up with a group of thieves called the Radical Dreamers. Their goal was the Frozen Flame, and we came into information saying that Lynx was supposedly after it. I wanted to get back at him, so I would steal it first. But Lynx killed the other members of the Radical Dreamers too...I hate him! And that's why I have to kill him!" Kid screamed.

"Kid..that's why..you want to hunt him down," X muttered.

"Yeah..now ya understand," Kid answered.

"You said that Lucca was your mom? And what about that reploid?" X asked.

"She was human, but she cared for me. She looked after me ever since I was little. As fer that reploid, I don't know who he was," Kid replied.

"What about that amulet?" X asked.

"What, you mean the one I gave you for good luck awhile back? I don't know, I've always had it," Kid answered.

X thought for a moment. That amulet had the power to activate an interdimensional portal. If that's true..then was it possible Kid wasn't from this world to begin with? Maybe she was originally part of some scheme, but she was sent over here. X shook his head, and thought it best to think more on it later.

"Well, let's get going. We have to get to the Dead Sea," X announced.


	13. Breaking Out

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 13  
"Breaking Out"  
By MEGAMANX411

As the group began to walk towards the exit, everyone else became aware of Harle's presence in the group. She had stayed back beforehand so she wasn't seen, but now her presence was rather evident. X was able to tolerate her to a degree, but some of the other members weren't as forgiving. Kid gave Harle a rather nasty glare and made a gesture that would imply she had some ill will towards her.

"You try anythin' funny..." Kid muttered.

Harle merely kept her typical nonchalant attitude and returned Kid's sentiment with an arrogant smirk. X did note that Harle was a difficult person to get to, almost any insults or harsh intentions just seemed to bounce off of her.

"Oh la la, you are a feisty one, no?" Harle replied, obviously mocking Kid.

Kid just snorted and turned her back to Harle, continuing on her way. Alia and Korcha didn't pay any mind to Harle and kept moving. Zero just kept his eye on her, making sure he was ready to defend himself just in case. Before they could get any further though, an alarm sounded off. Bright red lights began to flash and a rather annoying siren was blaring.

"What the hell is going on!" Zero shouted.

X covered his ears and was unable to hear Zero. The new body he was in had rather sensitive hearing, and that was not something X was accustomed to.

"What?" X shouted.

"What could've set off the alarm?" Alia asked.

"I don't know...wait!" Zero replied.

Zero turned his head to catch sight of three figures running into the building. It was Karsh, Zoah, and Marcy, three of the Acacia Dragoons. They caught sight of the others too, but they were mostly preoccupied with the sight of Lynx.

"It's them!" Zero added.

"Whocha?" Korcha asked.

"The Dragoons. They must be here to get Riddel!" Zero replied.

Karsh spat with disgust and walked towards the group. He clearly was really angry, and he held his axe firmly in his hands. Zoah and Marcy were right behind him, and they seemed to share in his anger quite a bit.

"There you are Lynx!" Karsh shouted.

X immediately knew what was going to happen. Karsh, Zoah, and Marcy must have found Viper, and somehow managed to save him. If that were true, then Viper probably told them that he was backstabbed by Lynx..and if that was the case, then X knew he was in deep trouble. He thought he might be able to convince them otherwise..it was worth a shot, at least.

"Hold on, you misunderstand! I'm not Lynx!" X shouted.

Karsh narrowed his eyes in frustration and then pointed his axe at X. He clearly intended to kill him, and wouldn't back down. X knew that Karsh wouldn't listen to reason on this matter, as much at it pained him to accept that.

"Karsh..please, I don't want to fight you," X whispered.

Karsh snorted, raised his axe high, and yelled out a battle cry.

"Charge!"

Karsh and Zoah rushed at X in a mad panic. Karsh ran at full speed with his axe ready to slice X in two, while Zoah was preparing an old-fashioned body-slam. Meanwhile, Marcy used her strings to hold X in place. Things did not bode well for X.

"Oh no you don't!" Alia shouted, raising her own buster.

Alia quickly focused her energy and unleashed a charge shot, which managed to slow down Zoah a bit. Meanwhile, Zero jumped in front of X to fend of Karsh's attack. Doing that proved to be rather difficult thanks to his immense rage. Karsh's axe was lowered his axe more and more towards Zero's face, but the red hunter managed to keep the attack at bay for the time being.

Kid, amidst that confusion, was cutting X free of his bonds. She knew that in Lynx's body, he may not be able to fight as well as he used to. He didn't know how to manipulate any of Lynx's tricks. Alia stood in front of X to defend him with her own buster, which proved to be quite vital in keeping Zoah away. Each time he charged, she blasted him. Although it only made him stumble a bit, it was better than nothing.

"Alia..are you sure you can keep that up? Maybe you should let Zero and Kid handle this," X muttered.

Alia turned back and gave X a rather annoyed look.

"X, you're always saving me. The least you can do is let me return the favor. I'm not as helpless as you think," Alia replied, returning her attention to the fight.

Perhaps it was because of her recent surge of aggression or determination, but Alia's charge process became more powerful. To a rather vast degree, and almost comparable to X if not the same.

"I won't let you hurt X!" Alia shouted, firing her buster.

The blast caught Zoah square in the chest and knocked him clear into the wall. His body slowly slumped down, and he fell to the floor, gasping. Marcy, meanwhile, was trying to manipulate the fight with her strings by binding Kid and X. Karsh and Zero were still in a lock, so to speak. Neither weapon gave way.

"You bastards killed the General!" Karsh spat.

"We didn't do anything you idiot, it was Lynx!" Zero replied.

"That's why I'm going to kill him, if you just let me!" Karsh answered.

"That ISN'T Lynx! That's X!" Zero shouted.

"I don't believe you," Karsh replied bluntly.

Karsh stared harshly at Zero, clearly not wanting to give way in the matter. The crimson hunter returned the sentiment with equal determination. The two other Dragoons joined Karsh and stood behind him, sharing in his resolve.

"We're going to kill Lynx," Karsh announced.

Zero spat, and then readied his saber. If these fools were going to hurt his friend, they would have to go through him first. Zero wasn't one to take things lying down.

"If you clowns try it, I'll stop you," Zero replied.

Karsh then lunged at Zero with his axe, but the hunter managed to deflect the attack with a flick of his saber. He nimbly sidestepped to get around Karsh, and then bashed him over the back of the head. Zoah tried to grab Zero, but the hunter displayed very impressive evasive maneuvers, and managed to avoid being caught. Marcy then tried her hand at subduing Zero, but this time, he managed to slice the strings before they could even grab ahold of him.

"You won't hurt my friend," Zero announced.

Karsh got back to his feet, and cracked his neck and knuckles. He wasn't done yet. Zoah and Marcy weren't exactly finished either. Karsh smirked at Zero, and raised his axe. Zero slowly brought up his saber to block the attack, but that wasn't Karsh's intent. With amazing strength, he hurled the axe straight at X.

"No!" Alia shouted.

Alia raised her buster and shot theaxe down before it could hit X. She then stood in front of him, and steadied her buster arm just like the way X did.

"I won't let you touch him. Not while I'm around," Alia announced.

Zero looked back at gave Alia a smirk and a thumbs up, but then brought his atention back to Karsh and the others.

"You guys really can't figure this out, huh?" Zero mocked.

"What was that?" Karsh asked.

"If you guys think this is Lynx, why would we be protecting him? We wanted to get Lynx, that's why we went to Fort Dragonia in the first place. So haven't you thought that it may be possible we're telling the truth!" Alia shouted.

Karsh's eyes widened as he realized that there was the possibility this wasn't Lynx. He looked back at his Dragoons, and then took a hard look at Lynx. Something about him was far different than before. He didn't get the usual feeling that he got when he looked at Lynx...no, he wasn't Lynx. Something was different. He looked like Lynx, but only really at first. If you looked hard enough, there was a glimmer of something there, something that definitely wasn't like Lynx. It was kindness.

"That's not him," Karsh muttered. "Come on Dragoons, let's get going. We have to get Riddel out of here."

X placed a hand on Karsh's shoulder, perhaps against his better judgement.

"If you want to keep her somewhere safe, a retired Dragoon by the name of Radius might be able to help you. He lives on the island just northwest of Termina," X offered.

Karsh turned around and give X a funny look.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked.

X shrugged his shoulders.

"Because I don't think you're evil," he replied.

Karsh merely shook his head and turned his back to X, going back to his business. The other Dragoons followed him without saying anything. Karsh went on to Riddel's room to rescue her, while X and company waited for him near the entrance to try and give him safe passage.

"Take Riddel somewhere safe, and tell Viper not to worry, we'll handle Lynx," said Zero.

Karsh merely nodded in reply, with Riddel in his arms, and ran off. None of Porre soldiers at the manor followed after him because X waited by the door and told them that it was a false alarm. When all was said and done, the group headed out to meet Norris at the docks.

"What took you guys so long?" Norris asked.

"We had to take care of some other business first," Zero replied. "Let's get going."

Kid then noticed something. There was something missing from their group.

"Oi! Where'd Harle get off to?" Kid asked.

X turned around to see if there was any sign of her, but didn't see any. She must have slipped out during the fight, but for what reason? X thought that maybe she was going to meet up with Lynx or something, that would be the most logical answer.

"Well, it doesn't change where we're going. Come on, to the Dead Sea!" X announced.


	14. To The Dead Sea

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 14  
"_To The Dead Sea_"  
By MEGAMANX411

Norris was waiting just by a rather nice boat which easily dwarfed Korcha's. Korcha's vessel, to be blunt, was more like a somewhat spacious canoe with little enhancements besides. This boat was clearly a more refined vessel intended for use by superiors in the Porre army. It had a section of cabins, among several other rooms, including a matenaince room.

"Wow...traveling in style, eh?" Zero muttered, observing the boat.

"I think we had best get going. We have general coordinates, but if you have any other information, it would be appreciated," Norris replied.

X thought for a moment. He didn't know how he knew, but he had the exact location of this place somehow engraved in his memory. It was like he knew all along where it was and how to find it, but that just didn't make sense. X slowly tapped Alia on the shoulder and whispered into her ear.

"Alia, input the following coordinates into your computer...Sector C-1156," X whispered.

Alia nodded hastily and followed X's command. The group then proceeded to get onto the boat, one after the other. Zero lounged around in one of the main cabins, and made himself comfortable. He didn't know how long this trip would be, so he figured he may as well enjoy it. The crimson hunter laid his head back, and prepared to get a little rest and relaxation.

Kid and Korcha were both enthralled by how expansive the ship was. Of course, Korcha was incredibly envious because his own boat was completely destroyed by comparison. That surely didn't help any sort of his chances with Kid. Meanwhile, X looked out the window in a daze as Alia looked at him nervously.

"You all ready?" Norris asked.

"Yeah, let's get going!" everyone shouted.

Norris nodded in confirmation, and started up the boat. As the engine came to life, each passenger made themself pretty comfortable. Zero laid back and closed his eyes, letting himself catch some most deserved relaxation. Kid and Korcha were completely enthralled with all of the devices on the ship, and were simply fascinated. They were children, after all.

Alia stood by X, looking at him rather nervously. She had wanted to talk to him about something for awhile now, and this was the perfect opportunity to approach him about it. Of course, save for the fact he was no longer in his own body, because that certainly didn't help anything. Alia bent over and tapped X on the shoulder. X turned around and gave Alia an innocent look.

"Yes Alia? What is it?" he asked.

"X, can I talk to you for a minute? In private?" Alia asked.

One of Zero's eyes shot open at the sound of what Alia said, and he suddenly became a bit more interested. However, knowing how things could get with Alia, he just decided against it and relaxed again. Alia and X then went into a private room to talk.

"X, there's something I need to talk to you about," Alia began.

"What is it? You can tell me anything," X replied.

"Well, it's about...how you treat me," Alia muttered, sounding a little embarassed.

X wasn't exactly understanding what Alia was getting at. Did she mean he was being offensive or rude? X thought he had been very polite to Alia.

"What do you mean Alia? Have I done something to offend you?" X asked.

Alia shook her head quickly and sighed.

"X, you're always there to protect me. I appreciate that, because it does show you'rea very kind person, but..." Alia stammered.

"But what?" X asked.

"I don't need you to shield me all the time! Maybe sometime I'd like to try fighting on my own, or fighting for you sake. I'm not a child X, and I would appreciate it if you didn't treat me like one. I am a Maverick Huner, and I have completed the training for it. I just prefer to navigate," Alia replied, shouting some parts of her speech out involuntariy.

Alia then clasped her hand over her mouth and felt really embarassed. True, X was a bit overprotective, but Alia was worried that she may have come off as a bit rude herself there.

"I'm sorry..." X muttered, lowering his head. "It's just that..."

"Just what?" Alia asked.

"I protect you because..I..what I mean to say is..." X stammered, his voice becoming softer with each passing word.

Alia became rather interested as to what X was going to say next. She had a feeling that she knew what it was already, but hearing it from X would be a different thing entirely.

"What..?" Alia asked.

"I love you!" X shouted, clenching his eyes shut as he shouted it.

X immediately gave Alia an embarassed look and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry.." X whispered.

Alia smiled and placed her hand on his cheek. She knew it was a different body, but still making contact with X was something for the time being.

"X..I want you to promise me something," Alia whispered.

"What is it?" X asked.

"I want to protect you," Alia replied.

X smiled and held Alia's hands in his own. He nodded slowly, taking into account her promise. X may be a bit overprotective of things he loves, but he would do his best to keep his promise. But even so, he was a bit surprised that someone else wanted to fight for him.

"Alia..I don't want you to take a risk like that. But if this is what you want, alright," X replied.

"X, I just want you to see that I can help. And now, it's you that needs help, so I'm going to do what I can to proect you," Alia answered.

Both X and Alia just stood there for a moment, not saying aword. X looked at Alia, smiling, but inwardly sad because of his inability to treat her the way she wanted. And the fact he had now promised to let her fight wasn't something he liked either. Alia, on the other hand, felt good for getting that off her chest. But she still felt sad about the fact she may have come off as rude to X. Especially after what he admitted to her.

"X..you can let go of my hands now," Alia stammered.

X immediately let go, and blushed.

"Heh, sorry.." he replied, rubbing the back of his head afterwards.

"X...I..I think I'm going to get some rest," Alia muttered, walking off to her own private room.

X just stood there, not protesting anything.

"Alright...Alia?" X asked.

"What now X?" Alia asked.

"I promise," X replied.

Alia smiled, but said nothing in return. She walked off to find her own bed, and started to get comfortable herself. X, on the other hand, couldn't really feel like sleeping at the moment. Even though his new body demanded it, X just couldn't stop thinking. He thought about Lynx in his body, he thought about Harle, he thought about Sigma...and he thought about his fate.

X knew that something was wrong. In order for him to be involved in this whole ordeal, something had to have gone wrong. Everything happens for a reason, and so did this. He didn't just wind up in another dimension for nothing. X wondered about whether or not he was the real X, so to speak.

If a different dimension was created for each decision one did or didn't make, did that mean only one person was real? How did X know that he was the real X, and not the product of a decision of an alternate version of himself from a previous time? Or maybe he was merely the product of a decision of his creator? But why was it that only one was considered real?

Each being, in each universe, could think and feel. So aren't they real? What determines reality and existence? It was at times like this that X really wished he could talk to Dr. Light, the man who seemed to know all of the answers X sought. X then looked down at his hands. They didn't belong to him, not at all. He wondered how long he would be in this body, how long he would go on like this.

He knew there was no way he could resume his old life if he were to stay this way...how could he keep his rank at Maverick Hunter HQ? What would humans and reploids think of him? How could he be around Alia and Zero? It wouldn't be the same. He needed to fix this. But for some reason, he wasn't really afraid. He felt like the answers would be coming to him...at least, that's what his dreams were telling him.

X looked back at Kid and Korcha to see that they were still amsuing themselves with childish games. X smirked, and wondered what his life would have been like if he had a chance to experience something like that. Or maybe he could have his own child one day?

X then looked over at Zero. Even though they were best friends, he was amazed that Zero had stuck by him for all of this. No matter what, Zero was always one to count on.

"Well..I guess I should get some sleep," X muttered, walking towards one of the beds on the ship.

X laid down, and slowly closed his eyes. For a time, the whole ship was pretty quiet, with nothing making noise except for the sound of the water. Soon, day gave way to night, and everyone pretty much went to their rooms. X then heard someone else entering the room he was in. X bolted awake, and sat right up in his bed.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"It's me.." a voice replied softly.

X could see far better in the dark thanks to the eyes of his new body..he could see that it was Alia.

"Alia..what are you doing here?" X asked.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing," Alia replied, sitting beside him. "It's really beautiful, isn't it?"

"What is?" X asked.

"The moon...the stars..the night sky," Alia muttered, looking outside.

Alia then shook her head and chuckled.

"I'm sorry..guess I kind of ramble when it comes to these things, I'm a bit of a romantic," Alia added.

"I don't mind," X replied, smiling.

"So what do you think we'll find at the Dead Sea?" Alia asked.

"I don't know for sure..but I have a feeling that there's someone waiting for me there," X answered.

"Lynx?" Alia inquired.

"No, not him. At least, I don't think so. I can't tell who it is, but I think I know him. And I think he's the one who's been giving me these dreams," X replied.

"Why do you think this person has been giving you dreams?" Alia asked.

"If you want my opinion, I think it's because he wants me to stop Lynx. Everything happens for a reason, you know?" X replied.

"Yeah..I guess you're right," Alia replied. "But I'm more worried about you..."

"Alia, I'm not going to stay in this body forever. I'm going to return to my former self, I promise you that. And I haven't forgotten my other promise to you either. But when I'm back in my old body, I want you to do something for me," X answered.

Alia's eyes widened, and she looked at X curiously.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I want you to help me, and for you to seek help from me," X replied.

"I promise X," Alia answered.

X looked out the window once again to see the relfection of the moonlight off of the water. Soon, they would reach the Dead Sea. X would find what he was looking for there. He didn't know how he knew really, but he just had a feeling. That's what his dreams had been telling him, and he had gotten to trust them.

"Alia, can you do me a favor?" X asked.

"Yes, what is it?" Alia replied.

"Stay with me tonight," X answered.

Alia didn't say anything, she merely leaned her head up against X's shoulder and they both looked out the window. More than anything, X wanted to return to his old body and be with Alia. And he would get his answer finally when he reached his destination.


	15. Redemption

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 15  
"_Redemption_"  
By MEGAMANX411

Morning soon came, and the boat was bathed in the gentle touch of sunlight. However, something was odd about this light. It didn't seem to have the normal passing feeling that one got when being cloaked in real light. It was like the light was frozen in place. X slowly rubbed his eyes and yawned.

He looked to his right to notice Alia still asleep beside him. X smiled, and then decided to see what was going on. He walked towards the front of the boat and went to see how Norris was doing.

"Hey Norris, what's the deal?" X asked, tapping the soldier on the shoulder.

Norris slowly turned around and gave X a strange look.

"X...I think we made it. The coordinates you gave were right...but look..." Norris muttered, pointing outside.

X stared outside at the waters. Something about it seemed fine, but on the other hand...there was something off. It didn't look normal. The water was too still. It didn't move, it stayed perfectly still. It was like there was nothing to upset the tranquility of the water. There wasn't anything swimming in the water, there wasn't anything making the waves shift...there was a complete stillness.

But something about it was eerie. Things seemed so...dead. Like nothing living was there at all. X turned back to Norris.

"I suppose that's why they call it the Dead Sea..." he muttered.

Zero then walked up beside X and looked outside at the Dead Sea.

"Guess that means we've arrived, eh?" Zero added, his gaze focused intently on the water.

"Yeah...let's go get everyone," X replied.

X and Zero proceeded to wake everyone else up, and they all gathered by the front of the boat. X looked nervously down into the water.

"Is it like normal water?" he asked.

Alia shrugged her shoulders.

"It seems fine to me..but it just seems so perfectly still. I guess that means there's nothing here really. So it can't be all that dangerous then," Alia reasoned.

X sighed lightly and looked back at the water. There wasn't anything there that could hurt him, so he ruled out that possibility. But there was still something that really weirded him out about this. Reluctantly, he lowered himself down. But he didn't go into the water as he expected to..he stayed on top of it. It was like the water was frozen..but it wasn't cold.

"I'm on top of the water...?" X muttered.

"It's like time itself is completely nullified here. It doesn't have any impact on the actions taken," Alia muttered, taking close observation of the situation.

"So where do we go from here X?" Norris asked, getting off the boat himself.

X looked over his shoulder and saw a small building off in the distance. He pointed towards it.

"That's where. We're going there," X replied.

"What's over there?" Zero asked.

"I don't know, to be honest. But that's where I think we should go," X replied.

"It's not like we have any other options," Alia added, looking around.

The whole area was so still and calm. There was nothing but a frozen body of water and a building off into the distance. The group followed after X's lead and walked towards the building, taking special care as they did so. Things may have seemed calm, but they didn't want to take any chances. As they drew closer, they saw more things come into view.

Not complete buildings, but a lot of them were fragmented pieces of things. Of towers, of houses, of just about anything. Even reploids. But something was off. A lot of the things they saw...didn't appear to be complete. They were partially transparent, as if they were torn halfway between reality and possibility.

It was like it was the merging of what is and what could be. Like the colliding of possible outcomes. X suddenly grew more and more wary of his surroundings as he got closer to his destination. Alia huddled closer to him, showing signs of worry as well. Zero kept an eye on his surroundings, and a firm grip on his saber as Kid and Korcha stood close by him. Norris brought up the rear with his pistol ready.

X then saw figures walking towards him. They were reploids.

"Hey, you there!" X called.

There was no answer. There wasn't even a sound. The figures kept moving. To X's horror, he dicovered that these figures, like the odd buildings, were also torn between existence and probability. They weren't quite real, but they almost were. They looked at X solemnly, as if he was the reason they were there. As if he was the reason they were suffering, the reason why they were trapped between dimensions.

X looked on to see thousands of reploids...all of them with alook of pure agony on their faces. Reploid men, women, and children, all of them. It was then that X realized...this was the meeting of two possible outcomes. The combination of saving these reploids, and failing them. They were half-way here, but not quite. In his world, they were alive. In the other, they were dead. So here, they were torn between the two fates.

X's eyes were wide with terror. Alia couldn't say much herself, because trying to rationalize something like this would be rather difficult. And bearing it would be even harder to comprehend.

"So you've finally come, I see," a voice announced.

"Who's there?" X replied.

Slowly, another figure came into view. But he was unlike the others. He had full form, so it was obvious that he was not meant to be there. But what surprised X more was how he looked...he had a long, white beard, a lab coat, several robotic augmentations, and he also wore glasses. It was the form of Dr. Doppler.

"Doppler..it's you...but who?" X asked, at a complete loss.

"Wait a minute..you're supposed to be dead!" Zero shouted.

Dr. Doppler smirked and nodded in response to Zero's claims.

"I am dead. In a sense," Dr. Doppler replied.

Zero cocked his head to one side and tried futilely to grasp the concept Dr. Doppler implied.

"In a sense? What are you talking about?" Zero asked.

"I suppose I should tell you. It's why I've brought you here, after all," Dr. Doppler answered.

X's eyes widened. The dreams. The visions. Were they some form of manipulation by Dr. Doppler?

"Before you say anything X, yes, those dreams were from me. I managed to build a device that allowed me to implant some memories of mine into you. You see, I am Dr. Doppler, but I am not the same one you know. I am the Doppler of this dimension, whereas you know the one from the other. Before he died, he contacted me. That was when he was being manipulated by Sigma. We worked together on a project for Sigma called FATE. It's a machine design to twist the rules of space and time to Sigma's advantage. You see, you live in this world, and he lives in the next. What Sigma planned on doing was changing all that," Doppler announced.

"Sigma was involved in this?" X asked.

"Yes. He was the reason for the project starting. It was considered a failsafe in the even of his death. So he could alter his fate, and therefore exchance places. The living Sigma would be put into your dimension, and you would be trapped here. I worked with the other Doppler on this machine, but after he died, I realized the error of my ways. I decided to somehow redeem myself, and I thought that the best way to do it was to come into contact with you. It was fate that you would come here anyway, as dictated by that infernal machine. But I thought I could help things in your favor," Doppler continued.

"So what does Lynx have to do with it?" Zero asked.

"I'm getting to that. You see, to prevent the machine from being destroyed, Sigma also ordered that we create two defense programs. These programs would be very special, and they would also be able to assume a pseudo-physical form. The two you know as Lynx and Harle are actually defense programs of FATE. They were designed to protect the machine, and to collect the Frozen Flame," Doppler replied.

"What is the Frozen Flame?" Alia asked.

"The Frozen Flame is a super powerful force metal. If combined with the FATE machine, it can increase its influence over the space time continuum further, and therefore give Sigma far more control over the existence of everything," Doppler answered.

The entire group was struck speechless. Everything was revealed to them. The reason why they were there, who Lynx really is, how Sigma is involved...everything. But they still didn't know how to stop Sigma, or how to get X's body back.

"X, I've decided to redeem myself. To do so, I have some things for you," Doppler replied.

"What is it?" X asked.

"I have your body. Because I had access to the machine ata time, I could also manipulate time to an extent. So I got another copy of your body. It's the same as your old one exactly. But I've also decided to give you another force metal-the Dragon Tear. This will allow you to erase Lynx and Harle and destroy FATE," Doppler replied.

"So you're saying...this whole time, we were being manipulated? That we had no control over what happened, and that Sigma was behind this whole scheme? Are you saying that we have no say in our destiny, is that what you mean, old man?" Zero asked.

Zero's voice had a hard edge to it, and X knew exactly why. Zero wasn't one to accept being controlled.

"Zero, calm down. Let's just let Dr. Doppler help us," Alia replied.

Zero shook his head and spat, obviously not liking how things were turning out. This whole time, they had no control over what was happening. It was all planned out from the very beginning.

"X, step into this capsule. When you come out, you'll be back in your own body, and you can discard that shell," Dr. Doppler announced.

X reluctantly looked at the capsule that was behind Doppler. It was exactly like the ones Dr. Light had given to X as well, but X was a bit apprehensive about the whole ordeal.

"Can I...really trust you?" X muttered.

Alia placed her hand on X's shoulder and whispered into his ear.

"X, I think you should do it. I mean, he's brought us here, and he's told us all of that information. I think it's safe to say he's on our side," Alia whispered.

"Are you sure about this Alia?" X asked.

"Yeah, what if yer wrong?" Kid added.

"I have a feeling about it..I think it'll turn out ok. Just please trust me," Alia added, giving X a strong and determined look.

X nodded slowly, and stepped into the capsule. There was a brilliant flash of light, and afterward, smoke billowed down out of the capsule. Slowly, a familar form stepped out. A blue boot touched the ground slowly, and there stood Mega Man X in his original form.

"Here," Doppler added, handing X a piece of force metal.

X weighed the thing in his hand, and looked back at Dr. Doppler.

"Is this the...?" X asked.

"Yes, that's the Dragon Tear. But there is something else I must tell you," Dr. Doppler replied.

"What is it?" X asked, listening intently.

"Before you can get to the machine, you must destroy six guardians. They each hold a key to the machine. After you defeat each one, they will help open the way. I will give you the coordinates to find each of them, and the way to FATE will be shown to you after you defeat all six," Dr. Doppler replied.

X nodded slowly and then took a data chip from Dr. Doppler.

"Use that to find them," Doppler added.

"What about you?" X asked.

Dr. Doppler smirked and then looked back at the ruins around them. It was the combination of a paradise and hell, the merging of possibility and reality...things that weren't meant to be fused together with the things that were.

"I belong here. I am of no use to anyone anymore...and I would prefer to not be aorund for Sigma to use me anymore," Doppler mutered.

"What are you saying?" X asked.

Dr. Doppler merely faced X and gave him a hard look in the eye.

"X. I don't want Sigma to control me anymore. I don't want him to use me anymore. And now that I've told you everything, now that I've atoned for my sin...I want to rest in peace finally. Do you understand?" Dr. Doppler asked.

"But...I'm not going to..there's no way..you can't expect me to do something like that!" X shouted.

"I never expected you to...but it's something I want in return for helping you. Please," Dr. Doppler replied.

X was practically tearing and screaming his head off. There was no way he'd willingly kill someone.

"No! I refuse to kill you! Why don't you just come with us?" X asked.

Alia didn't say anything. She merely hung her head low, trying to think of something to say to X. Something to say to comfort him, and something that would provide a rational, reasonable answer. But she didn't know what to say. Kid was in a similar predicament, and Korcha would rather not get involved either.

"Old man..why do you want to die, really?" Zero asked.

"I want to rest in peace finally. I don't belong anywhere else..." Dr. Doppler muttered.

"No! You do, you're just deluding yourself!" X shouted, getting angrier.

Zero slowly pulled out his saber, and gave Dr. Doppler a hard gaze.

"Are you really sure you want to die? How sure are you?" Zero asked.

"Zero, what are you doing? You're not going to.." X muttered.

Zero shook his head, and put his saber back.

"I'm not going to kill you, old man," Zero muttered.

"Fine then..." Dr. Doppler mutered, lowering his head.

He reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a strange looking device. He slowly weighed it in his hands, and then eyed it intently.

"This device is what allowed me to implant memories into you X. I can also use this device to give you hypnotic suggestions if I want," Dr. Doppler threatened.

"Dr. Doppler! You're not seriously going to FORCE X to kill you!" Alia gasped.

Dr. Doppler lowered his head, and a single tear streamed down his cheek as he pushed a button on the remote he held in his hand. Suddenly, X's arm shot up and transformed into a buster. X tried to pull it back down, but it refused to obey.

"No! Don't make me do this!" X screamed, pulling down on his arm.

X's buster began to charge more and more energy, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was powerless to stop his own power, in a sense. X was doing everything he possibly could to stop himself, everything he could to avoid becoming a killer. But Dr. Doppler wanted him to do it.

"I'm sorry X..." Dr. Doppler muttered.

All of the sudden, there was a sudden flash of light. X looked on to see that his blast didn't hit Dr. Doppler. It missed, but just barely. But then he saw that Zero stood behind Doppler. Zero loosely held his saber in his hands, and he looked down on the old man who now laid in a heap on the ground. He had a massive gash across his chest...which was obviously caused by Zero's saber.

Zero chose to accept the responsibility of killing someone so X wouldn't have to bear it. X stood there, speechless and horrified. Alia couldn't say much either, she could only keep her gaze focused on X. She tried her hardest to think of something to say to comfort him..but it was just so complicated.

"X. I'm sorry," Zero muttered.

"Zero..you..." X whispered, at a loss completely.

"Come on. Let's get going. We have a job to do," Zero added.

The group slowly trudged back to the boat, with mixed feelings of victory and despair in all of them. They had gotten the information they needed, X was back in his old body..but what just happened was too much to bear. When they got back onto the boat, they all decided to get going to their next destination...they would face the six guardians, they would destroy FATE...and they would face Sigma.


	16. The First Dragon

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 16  
"_The First Dragon_"  
By MEGAMANX411

While on the boat, X took the time to look at his hands. They felt familiar, but at the same time, it felt somewhat strange to be back in his original body. He looked back down at his blue armor and tried to force a smile. This should be a happy moment for him. He completed one of his main objectives. But the death of Dr. Doppler was too much to bear.

X looked over at Zero, who was looking out the window. He couldn't understand why Zero did it. He did know that Zero killed Doppler so X wouldn't have had to, so that his own conscience would be clean. But still, the fact remained that Zero killed him. X lowered his head in shame. He then felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"X..that wasn't your fault," a voice whispered.

X slowly turned his head to see Alia beside him. Alia sat down next to him, and placed her hand on his. X looked into her eyes, and almost felt too ashamed to speak back.

"X, Dr. Doppler would have done anything to fulfill his goal in that situation. He was being selfish, and he didn't even consider your objections. Zero didn't want you to live with that, so he decided to take responsibility himself. He's a very good friend, he understands you, and he wants to protect you..just like I do," Alia added.

X looked deep into Alia's eyes, and was amazed that her words managed to have the effect of soothing the very pain that was rooted deep in his soul. He just looked at her for a minute, and tried to imagine how she possibly came up with the right exact words he wanted to hear. Alia just rubbed his back and leaned up against X.

X looked back at Zero and realized that he didn't bear any ill will. It wasn't his fault that Doppler died, and he realized that he needed to be strong. All of his friends were counting on him. The whole universe may be counting on him. The very essence of space and time was riding on this.

"Alia...thank you," X muttered.

"X..." Alia whispered.

"I've realized that I can't just feel bad about things I couldn't prevent. I do undertand that Doppler should have been saved. But I won't let that stop me from completing this task," X announced, sounding as determined as ever. "Come on everyone! We have a mission!"

Zero nodded his head to X, symbolizing his respect. Kid and Korcha were just children, so to them, it wasn't much more than some kind of game. But they were going to have fun nonetheless. As for Alia...she had a promise to keep to X. She would stick with him until the end.

Norris then approached X. He hadn't seen him in his blue armor before, so he felt like he was talking to a completely different person.

"Excuse me..X?" Norris asked.

"What is it Norris?" X replied.

"I wanted to thank you for taking me to the Dead Sea. After seeing what it was like..I have a favor to ask of you. I want to go with you," Norris answered.

"Norris..I don't want to involve anyone that doesn't need to be put in danger. But I suppose I can't really stop you myself..." X muttered.

"I certainly won't be a burden, not in the least. I am a soldier, after all," Norris replied, smirking.

"I guess that makes us a team then," Zero muttered, a familiar cockiness coming over him.

The group departed for the first set of coordinates that Dr. Doppler gave to them. The island was simply dubbed "Water Dragon's Isle," so they assumed that it must be home to the first guardian, the water dragon. According to the data that Doppler had given to them, his actual name was Tsunami Leviathan, and rightfully so. He was said to be a dragon-type reploid of simply massive size.

X and company soon reached the island and disembarked. It was a rather small environment, with several pools of water, some caves, and greenery just about everywhere. It was very serene and tranquil, and so utterly calming.

"Alright...let's go find that guardian," Zero announced, holding his saber tightly in his hands.

Zero lead the way down a cavern which came out on the other side of the island. The place they entered was like the entrance...there were pools of water, greenery, and even some pillars scatterd around. It was a rather small space due to all of the clutter.

Butat the end of the room, there stood the dragon. He was simply huge. At least 30 feet in height, and most likely around 50 feet in length from head to tail. His armor was a dark blue color accompanied with some light blue swirls. He had a massive jaw, deep purple eyes, and a powerful body.

"The water dragon..." X muttered, looking up at the creature.

"If you want access to fate..you must claim the data from my body first," the dragon bellowed.

X looked back at Zero, and then shot glances over to Kid, Alia, Korcha, and Norris. They all nodded back, showing that they were ready. X breathed in slowly, and assumed his battle stance.

"We're going to stop Sigma...even if that means going through you!" X shouted, raising his buster high.

The dragon roared and threw its mammoth head back. It then brought up one limb and tried to crush the group with its massive weight. However, X quickly dashed out of the way, pulling Kid and Alia along as he did so. Zero followed suit with Norris and Korcha. Korcha was just a bystander, but it wasn't like he could exactly avoid being involved in such a small space.

The dragon then opened its jaw and tried to swallow Zero whole. However, the crimson hunter wasn't going to stand for that. When the beast got close, he slashed at its teeth and even cut some out. X and Alia were blasting away, trying to get it to back off, while Norris was trying to hit its eyes with his pistol.

The dragon was becoming a bit agitated now...it roared loudly, and then it opened its mouth wide. But this time, it didn't bring it down to bite. A deluge of water came pouring out, and the water wave threatened to wash away the entire group.

"Hold on to me!" X shouted, gearing up in his Falcon Armor.

X's appearance immediately changed, and he was now equipped with his nimble Falcon Armor. He had white, gold, and blue armor plating now, and his design appeared to be a bit more sleek. He grabbed onto everyone, and then soared into the air. He then dropped everyone off on a pillar

"Everyone ok?" he asked.

"Yeah..good thing you put on that armor," Zero muttered. "Gota plan on beating that thing?"

"I do," Alia replied.

"Let's hear it," Zero answered, sounding enthused.

"OK...X, you take Zero and drop him off on top of the water dragon's head. Zero, while on top of him, try to stab at his eyes with your saber. When he's preoccupied with Zero, we can have Kid plant a device on him that will allow me to hack into him and disable him. Norris can provide cover fire," Alia announced.

"You sure 'bout this?" Kid asked, sounding nervous.

"Yeah..I think it'll work," Norris answered.

"Everyone got it? Good, let's get to work," Zero added.

The entire group nodded accordingly, because it was a really good plan. They had a shot at winning this if they pulled it off. Following Alia's cue, X lifted Zero up and flew over the top of the dragon. Zero jumped down, and latched onto the dragon's head. It jerked around violently, but couldn't get the hunter off.

"Stay still!" Zero shouted, steadying himself.

Zero then brought his saber down and rammed it into the dragon's eye. The water dragon roared violently and flailed around, sending Zero flying off. Amidst all of the confusion, Kid was running behind the dragon, and climbed up its backside. Kid quickly ran up the dargons back, and threw a dagger at the back of its head. The dagger had a special implant attached to the blade, and when it was thrown at the dragon, it gave Alia access to its processor.

Alia quickly employed her hacking skills, and soon, the dragon began to twitch and convulse. The dragon fell over on its side, and ceased to move.

"Is it...dead?" Kid asked.

"Only one way to find out," Zero muttered, holding his saber tight.

He rammed his saber into the creature's head, and then pulled a data chip out. Zero fiddled with it in his hands a bit, and then decided to wrap things up.

"Let's see what you have there," Alia muttered, taking the data chip from Zero.

She put it into her computer and started accessing the data on it. Her eyes widened when she saw what was present. It was a continuous stream of extremely complex thereotical time-manipulation data. It was obviously one of the integral parts of the machine that Dr. Doppler spoke of. Sigma must have implanted it in a reploid to keep it secure. This chip seemed to have a secondary function as well...accessing the area to the machine itself.

"I guess this brings us a little closer to Sigma," X muttered, his buster reverting back to his normal hand. "We better head out now."


	17. The Second Dragon

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 17  
"_The Second Dragon_"  
By MEGAMANX411

X and company went back and boarded the boat, ready to face their next challenge. As Zero laid back in his chair, he let outa content sigh.

"Man..kind of feels like our hunting days, eh X?" Zero asked.

X shrugged his shoulders. Even though he didn't really care for his profession, he did admit that returning home to his life is something he wanted rather badly. What they were doing now was kind of similar to their previous assignments as hunters, but it still wasn't the same.

"I suppose you could say that...but we should stay serious about this matter," X replied.

Alia, in the meantime, was in the process of looking up the next destination. A map was brought up depicting the islands once again.

"Well, the closest to us as of now would probably be Mount Pyre. I'm assuming because it's a volcano, there will probably be a fire-oriented dragon there," Alia reasoned.

"Let's get going," X muttered, looking out the window as he spoke.

The boat soon came to Mount Pyre, and the group began to scour the area for any signs of the dragon. They each explored around the volcano first, but saw no signs of the dragon whatsoever. So they decided to enter. Because they had already explored the area once before, they reasoned that it shouldn't be too hard to find a dragon. A creature as big as that couldn't possibly hide very well.

As they searched the area, it struck them as odd that no one could catch sight of the dragon. Dragons were usually depicted as large..so the fact that it wasn't seen after this long may have meant something was wrong.

"Do you really think we would have missed it the last time we were here?" Zero asked, looking around.

"Yeah..we were here once before, you think you would notice something like a dragon," Alia added.

"Do ya think we're lookin' in the wrong place?" Kid asked, clutching one of her daggers.

X shook his head in response. He believed what they were looking for was indeed here, he just reasoned that they couldn't see it yet.

"I don't think the data's false...I just think we're going about this all wrong.." X muttered.

A slight crunching sound was heard, like the sound of a person walking. X quickly brandished his buster, wheeled himself around, and aimed at the source of the noise. When X realized what he was looking at, his eyes widened with disbelief. It looked like a dragon..at least, to a degree. It was incredibly small though, and would probably fit the bill better as a gigantic lizard.

"Wait, wait, wait...you aren't serious? This is the dragon?" Zero asked, sounding both shocked and disappointed.

The little dragon reploid flashed a vicious smile, and lunged itself at Zero. The crimson hunter anticipated the attack and smashed the dragon to the ground before it could come close enough to latch onto him. The dragon groveled a bit, rubbed its head, and then stood back up.

"This fight's not worth it.." Zero muttered, putting his saber away.

The dragon flashed a wicked smile again, and a wave of uneasiness came over everyone. If Zero could beat the dragon so easily..why did it act so confident still? It was rather perpexling, to say the least. X kept his buster steady and Kid kept her daggers ready for use. Alia was standing behind X with her own buster ready, and Norris had his pistol ready to fire at any time.

The dragon reploid began to flex, and suddenly, it's body began to transform. It instantly grew in size to immense proportions. Unlike the previous dragon, this one kept a somewhat humanoid build and walked on its hind legs, but it still had a dragon-like figure. It grew to about 20 feet tall or so, and it's red wings stretched out further and further. The massive reploid roared, and the group instantly knew why the dragon was smiling earlier.

X let out a buster shot, which clipped the dragon in the wing. The reploid shrieked, doubled back, and then opened its huge jaw to let out a stream of fire. X nimby rolled to the side to avoid being burnt, but the attack still made him quite nervous. X shot a glance over at the others to see if they were ok, and then struggled back to his feet.

The dragon then tried to stomp down on X with its massive form, but X was dodging every attack. Zero, seeing his friend in trouble, launched himself in the air and grabbed onto the dragon's head. The only thing was, the dragon's body was so hot that doing so gave Zero a burning sensation. Despite that, he brought his saber down and stabbed the dragon in the eye. Kid, following up on Zero's lead, threw a dagger and took out the dragon's other eye.

The dragon reared its head back and then let out another blast of fire. Norris quickly leaped over at Kid to knock her out of the way, and Korcha remained at the sidelines so he wasn't in the line of fire. Zero managed to get out of the way in time because he was right beside the dragon. But someone wasn't able to-Alia.

"Alia!" X shouted.

X quickly thrust himself in front of Alia, and the burning attack hit him directly. X let out a scream of agony, but stood his ground. The fires were going harmless by Alia because of X's barricade.

"X, don't!" Alia shouted, reaching out to him.

As the blast subsided, X stumbled around in a daze and finally fell to the ground. Alia gritted her teeth angrily and charged her buster. She decided to employ a technique that she had learned from X awhile ago, one that would indeed be effective in subduing this monster.

"Hyper Cannon!"

Alia let loose a barrage of charged buster blasts from her arm cannon. The massive energy balls ripped through the dragon's body and left several holes in it. The dragon twitched and began to fall backwards. It struck the ground with incredible force and a cloud of dust was brought up as it did so. Alia breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was over. A single bead of sweat trickled down her face and she was breathing heavily.

Zero was completely stunned at this turn of events. He had never seen Alia fight like that before. He never really saw her angry all that often for that matter. He just stood there, speechless for a moment, before rushing over to X. Alia was there as well, clutching X close. She tucked his head to her chest and a tear streamed down her cheek.

Zero reached out his hand to try and console Alia, but he retracted it. He thought it may be better to not get involved. Kid stood beside Zero, and looked equally worried. A look of shock was on her face, but when she looked over at Zero, the crimson hunter just shook his head to signal to her that she should let Alia handle it. Korcha wasn't really in a position to say anything either, and Norris quickly broke out his medical supplies.

"G-guess..I overdid...the whole protection thing a bit," X wheezed, waking up.

Alia forced a meek smile as she saw X's eyes open, but she just held him closer. X didn't say anything else, he knew what he had done, and he would have done it again. Alia knew that X would protect her...and she also knew that she would protect him. Norris quickly broke out the medical supplies to help, but he let Alia administer it. She was more experienced, after all.

As Alia brought X back to the boat, Zero looked forward with a determined gaze. He then looked over to notice that Kid was looking rather down. He bent down beside her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I was jus' wondering...if X would have done the same for me if I were in trouble," Kid muttered, lowering her head.

Even though she admitted that she wanted to be friends with Alia, Kid did realize that Alia took far more of X's attention. Since she showed up, X didn't pay much mind to Kid. Zero just smirked and patted Kid's head.

"I'll save you if you're in trouble. You can count on me," Zero muttered, acting like a father figure.

Kid just smiled back at Zero beacuse of his kind gesture. Zero wasn't usually the one to show such emotion on occasion, especially after what happened with Iris, but Kid did admit that Zero did seem to be acting like a father or big brother to her. Korcha then tried to impress Kid with his own promise of protection, but Kid just shrugged it off, which made Zero chuckle and Korcha whine.

"Well...that's two down. Four left," Norris announced, taking his seat at the helm.

"But what about X?" Kid asked.

"He'll be ok..." Alia muttered, walking forward. "He's just resting for the time being. He'll be ready by the time we get to our destination."

"That's just like X, heh..." Zero muttered, shaking his head. "We'll let him sleep. But we should already start moving towards the next island."


	18. The Third Dragon

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 18  
"_The Third Dragon_"  
By MEGAMANX411

As the group made their way to the next island, X still laid in bed. He stared at the ceiling, just thinking about what he had done back in the volcano. When he ran the scenario back through his mind, he thought about some things that didn't concern him before. Namely, what Alia had thought about his actions.

X understood that she didn't want for him to be in danger either..but he knew that he just had to help her in that situation. He would've done it again. He thought that maybe Alia could've gotten herself out of the way in time...but that would've warranted too great a risk in X's opinion. X just chuckled and shook his head.

"Heh..didn't do anything wrong and I still can't stop thinking about it," he muttered, rubbing his head.

X sat up, stretching himself out. Thanks to Alia's immediate care, he was feeling a lot better. He then rubbed his shoulders and stared off into the distance. Just then, another figure walked into the room. She took another step closer, and the light revealed to X that it was Alia.

"Feeling better?" asked Alia.

"Yeah. Thanks to you," X replied.

"Just promise me you won't do anything that boneheaded again," Alia teased, a smile appearing on her face.

X didn't say anything in return, he just smiled back and rubbed the back of his head in embarassment. He stood up, and walked past Alia.

"I haven't forgotten the promise," muttered X as he walked past her.

Alia nodded her head in agreement, and just followed X back. Soon, they reached the next island...which meant that there was another fight ahead of them. They all disembarked the boat, and got onto the island. This island was particularlyplain, featuring almost nothing save for grass.

There were a few trees spread throughout the area, but for the most part, it was open. There was a rather strong wind, but not much else to distinguish the area. The island itself wasn't even that big. It could easily be traversed in a mere few hours. That, of course, made finding the dragon a whole lot easier.

It stood proudly on the plains. This dragon was far sleeker than the previous ones. It's body was still rather big, but thinner in comparison to the other dragons. It's body had a thin layer of silvery armor, and it had a very aerodynamic appearace. It was clearly built for high velocity speed during flight.

X looked back at the rest of the group, and carefully examined everyone.

"You guys ready for this?" he asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Zero replied, nodding his head.

Alia, Norris, and Kid alsonodded their heads in agreement. Korcha remained on the boat this time, for safety issues. X didn't want him to be caught in the crossfire. X turned his head back to the dragon, and it now had its gaze affixed on the group. Its dim red eyes were focused intently on X, and X returned the favor with his own determined gaze.

"We have more important business. We have to change our fate. We won't let you stand in our way!" X shouted, charging his X-Buster.

The dragon replied to X's challenge by throwing its head back in a massive roar. The dragon then lifted itself up with its mighty wings, and began to float in the air.

"You're not going anywhere!" Zero shouted, running at the dragon.

Zero ran at the dragon and vaulted himself upwards in an attempt to get on top of it. Unfortunatley, the massive reploid proved too agile and flew away just in time. Zero landed back on the ground with a loud thud. He angrily beat the ground with his fist and spouted a few curses.

"It's up to you guys!" Zero shouted. "Shoot it down so I can hit it!"

"I'm on it!" Norris shouted, aiming his pistol.

Norris closed one eye and cocked his head to get a better aim with his pistol. He lined it up with the dragon's forehead, but was trying to steady his pistol for a perfect shot.

"Almost there..." Norris muttered, keeping his gun steady.

All of the sudden, the dragon opened his mouth and shot a few energy balls down at the ground. As the shots smashed into the ground, huge amounts of debris were lifted up, and a smokescreen apperaed.

"Watch out!" X shouted, dashing away.

Zero quickly dashed over, picked up both Kid and Alia, and got them aside. He looked back up at the dragon with angered eyes and then looked back at Kid and Alia.

"You guys alright?" he asked.

"Yeah..but where's X?" Alia asked, looking around.

Amidst the smokesceen, X stood tall. He shot a look back at Zero and the others. But there was something was different about X...he was now fitted in his golden armor! His armor plating now had a thin gold layer over it, and he was virtually overflowing with power. (Author's note: The golden armor is from Mega Man X3, and yes, X can change his armors at any time as shown by the introductory cutscene from the Saturn/PS1version of Mega Man X3).

"Norris!" X shouted. "You have a clear shot?"

"Yeah..I can hit it.." Norris replied.

"Then go for it!" X shouted.

Norris fired from his pistol and hit the dragon right in the direct middle of the forehead. The dragon stopped for a moment and that's when X seized his opportunity. He vaulted himself up with an air dash and latched himself onto the dragon's head. He then rammed his buster into the back of the dragon's head, charged his weapon, and let loose a charged blast.

The dragon's head was sent flying forwards and was detached from the body entirely. The dragon's body crashed into the ground with a huge crash, and X was riding it down. When the dragon smashed into the ground, X leaped off.

X looked back at the ruin he caused and rubbed his head in mild embarassment.

"Guess I overdid it..heh.." he muttered.

"X..that was amazing!" Zero shouted, patting him on the back. "Just three more to go, and we'll be ready to take down Sigma."

"Yeah..we're not that far from our goal now," Alia added, taking the data chip from the dragon.


	19. The Fourth Dragon

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 19  
"The Fourth Dragon"  
By MEGAMANX411

"It's somewhat hard to believe that we're already halfway there. I mean, it's a good thing, but it's kind of unreal too.." X muttered, taking a long stretch.

Zero just shrugged his shoulders and then resumed his typical arrogant stance.

"X, you've known me for how long and you're doubting our ability as a team? Come on. You know that this wasn't going to be too hard for us. And soon, we'll crush Sigma," Zero announced, his eyes hardening with resolve.

Alia's eyes lit up as she was hit with an idea.

"You know, I've been wondering. If Sigma is dead in our world...what would happen if we destroy the Sigma in this world? I mean, it obviously isn't natural for elements of one dimension to interfere with the outcome of the other. What if we end up doing more harm than good?" Alia asked.

X rubbed his chin and thought for a minute. He did wonder about the complications of interfering in another dimension, but he wasn't fully aware of the consequences.

"You know..you may be right. But I don't think we can just let him be, though. I mean, if we simply stop, he'll just use that machine Dr. Doppler created to destroy everything..." X whispered, his voice softening.

X just realized that if Alia was right about this..then they were caught in a serious lose-lose situation. If they didn't destroy Sigma in this world, they'd all be doomed. If they did destroy him, there was the chance of a dimensional collapse. Elements from one dimension are not supposed to meddle in another..and that may seriously damage the space-time continuum.

Zero decided to step in and end things right there. He knew that this talk was necessary and productive, but if they stopped their quest due to this imposing question nothing would be resolved.

"We'll find out sooner or later. But the main thing that we have to do is confront Sigma so we can at least destroy that machine of his. We just can't quit now," Zero announced.

"Zero's right. Unless we keep fightin' we ain't gonna get anythin' done," Kid added, nodding her head.

"Alright then. Come on guys. We have another dragon to take care of. Where's it at Alia?" Zero asked, looking over at the navigator.

Alia quickly brushed her hair out of her eyes so she could see better, and then pulled out her computer to find the next location. Alia inputted the coordinates that Dr. Doppler gave, and the next location came up. Norris led the boat in the direction that Alia specified, and they soon arrived at the next island.

As they disembarked, they noticed that this island was covered in lush forestry. The grass was exceptionally tall, and the trees were simply mammoth. The island was completey filled with the beauty of plant life, and seemed to be incredibly vibrant. Zero led the way, batting any branches out his way as he explored the tiny island.

Alia, Kid, and Norris followed Zero, and X took up the rear. Soon, Zero came to a clearing in the forest. The area he was in was devoid of pesky trees thankfully, which would allow for clearer vision. But there was no dragon in sight.

"This things gotta be around here somewhere.." Zero muttered, looking around the forest.

"How can you tell?" Alia asked, backing up towards X.

"I can kind of feel these things," Zero replied. "Just stay on your toes."

All of the sudden, a muscular green dragon bursted out from the nearby forests. The dragon stood on its powerful hind legs and threw its head back as it roared viciously. It was a very muscular dragon, much like the water dragon that they had faced earlier.

The dragon had a somewhat more humanoid form to it, but it still had a very imposing set of claws and a huge jaw full of razor sharp teeth. The dragon reploid almost matched the water dragon in terms of size, but it still seemed incredibly agile despite its size.

"Heh, what did I tell ya? Get ready everybody!" Zero shouted, pulling out his saber.

The dragon lunged forward with a powerful swipe of its claws, and it just barely grazed Zero. The red hunter spat and spouted a few curses, but quickly got back in the action. He tried to repeat his method of getting on top of the dragon, but the creature batted him away before it could be done. X and Alia used some buster shots, but the dragon managed to actually deflect them with its tail.

Norris tried to gun the creature down by shooting it in its supposed weak spots, but the dragon proved to be far too quick for him to pinpoint. It evaded the shots with surprising agility, and rushed again at the group. The dragon quickly lashed out with its tail and batted away X and Norris, sending them straight into nearby trees.

Alia and Kid luckily managed to escape injury. They exchanged nervous glances and then looked back up at the dragon. Normally the guys would be all over the dragon already, but they were getting beat pretty bad too.

"Kid, I think we need to work together to beat this thing," Alia whispered, standing ready with her buster.

"I hear ya. What do ya suggest?" Kid asked, holding out her twin daggers.

"Try to distract the dragon. Run under him," Alia replied.

Kid's expression turned blank. Her eyes shot open from sheer surprise. She could simply not believe what Alia was suggesting.

"Are ya purposely tryin' to kill me?" Kid asked, a bead of sweat sliding down her face.

Alia just smirked at Kid and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Just trust me, I have a plan," Alia answered.

Kid reluctantly smiled back and nodded her head, but was still rather uneasy. She stood up and looked back at the dragon. A feeling of nervousness came over her, but she looked back at Alia and was suddenly filled with more confidence.

"Alright..I'll trust ya on this one," Kid muttered, readying her daggers.

With surprising agility, Kid darted underneath the dragon, proving that she was far quicker than the beast. She ran under it, and the dragon bent its head down to try and catch her. In the mean time, Alia quickly charged her buster and ran forward. Kid continued running past and then the dragon finally had to turn around. As it wheeled itself around, it caught a glimpse of Alia.

The dragon tried to bite down, but as soon as its mouth opened, Alia let loose a fully charged buster blast. The high-powered blast flew straight into the dragon's mouth. The dragon immediately winced in pain and fell backwards as its esophagus and innards were shredded by the blast. As it painfully threw itself around, Kid took an opportunity by slicing the dragon's underbelly with her daggers.

The dragon finally stopped twitching and finally let itself fall to the ground with a loud crash. As the dragon's huge bulk smashed into the earth, a wave of dust was shot up. Alia and Kid braced themselves to see that the dragon was indeed finished.

"See? What did I tell you?" Alia asked, smiling.

Kid didn't anything in reply, she just gave Alia a similar smile and a thumbs up. X, Zero, and Norris soon woke up, rubbing their aching heads to find that Alia and Kid had already taken care of business. X wasn't really mad or anything, but he was a bit worried that Kid and Alia fought the dragon by themselves. Zero and Norris were just kind of mad that they missed out on the fight.

"You took down that dragon?" Zero asked, his mouth open. "Just you two?"

"Yup. He wasn't so tough, if you have a plan that is," Alia replied, teasing Zero.

Zero just crossed his arms defiantly, but thought it best not to say anything offensive. After all, it was still a victory regardless of whether or not he was involved in the fight. X then walked over to Alia and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright? You sure the dragon didn't hurt you at all?" X asked.

"No, I'm quite ok X. I did complete the training at Maverick Hunter HQ, after all," Alia replied, clearly proud of her achievement.

"Guess I was just a little worried..but I suppose you proved to me that you don't need me to be concerned!" X replied, smiling back at Alia.

As Alia and X exchanged comments, Zero walked up and collected the data chip from the dragon, still a little miffed at the fact that he missed the fight entirely. He walked past the group and onto the boat, and quickly went back to sleep without saying a word. Kid was flaunting her achievement for awhile as well, but the group just stopped listening after awhile...save for Korcha, who was still completely head over heels for Kid.

Norris, the quiet one of the group, just resumed his place at the helm, ready to take them to the next dragon. X and Alia boarded the ship again, ready to face the next enemy. There were four dragons down, and two to go. They were getting even closer to their goal, closer to Sigma, and closer to discovering their fate.


	20. Twin Dragons

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 20  
_"Twin Dragons"  
_By MEGAMANX411

As Alia typed away on her computer to search for the final two dragons, she noticed something odd. They were both supposedly located in the same area based on the information included in the data chips given to them by Dr. Doppler. Alia winced her eyes to make sure she wasn't reading the data incorrectly, and then resumed her search.

Alia wasn't sure if this was lucky or a bad sign. If this information was true, which Alia believed to be the case, then this may be a rather difficult battle. Each dragon they had faced so far was already difficult by itself, so fighting two simultaneously might prove to be next to impossible. Still, if they did manage to defeat these dragons, then that meant they would be able to gain access to Sigma.

"Something wrong Alia?" X asked, looking over the navigator's shoulder.

Alia wasn't sure if she should express her worry on the matter, because it might just create needless panic. However, she did think it may be in her best interest to inform the others.

"X, I think we should carefully plan our next battle," Alia replied, turning to face the blue hunter.

X looked back at Alia curiously and was a bit confused as to her meaning.

"What do you mean Alia? Did you find something out?" X asked.

"Well..the next two dragons are in the same location. That means we may have to fight them both at the same time," Alia replied.

"I see..." X replied, his eyes lowering to the ground. "Alia, I appreciate you expressing your concern about this. But what precautions can we take really?"

Alia shrugged her shoulders, admitting that she wasn't entirely knowledgable on what to do. That certainly wasn't normal for her. Still, one had to admit that there wasn't much they could do really. There weren't many options available to them at the moment..but they could still make a battle plan. Alia was then reinvigorated with a sense of courage, and tapped X on the shoulder.

"X, I think I have an idea. We should separate into teams and try to get the dragons away from one another. If we have numbers on our side, we might have an advantage. I can go with you, and Zero can take Norris and Kid. We might be able to take down one dragon ourselves, and Zero and his team can take the other down," Alia offered.

X nodded his head in confirmation and rounded up the other members of the group. He informed them of Alia's plan, going over the more intricate details with them on the matter. If there were two dragons involved, they did not want to have them together. Having their two enemies cooperating might prove disastrous, so they concluded that it would be best to separate the dragons and eliminate them with individual teams.

"Areyou sure you two will be ok by yourselves?" Zero asked. "I mean, if it's just you and Alia, that might be a bit dangerous..."

"Don't worry Zero. We'll be ok," Alia replied. "It works out better this way. Besides, we need to have you and X on separate teams because you two are the strongest here."

"But how come you are the one who got paired with X?" Kid asked, a smile appearing on her face. "Why ain't Norris with him?"

"Well..this way things seem more even.." Alia replied, blushing a little at the implication Kid was making.

X just smiled at Alia and placed a hand on her back.

"I think these teams work out nicely," he replied, putting an end to the discussion. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yes sir. All preparations are complete," Norris replied.

The group then disembarked the boat, getting onto the island. This one was unlike the others in the sense that it wasn't really open. The whole island was entirely rocky and jagged, with the only noticeable thing being the two cave entrances on either side of the island. The air around the island had a strange sound to it, like nothing was alive on one end while the other seemed full of life.

"Alright. Zero, you and your team check out that end," X announced, pointing to one end of the island. "Alia and I will take the other cavern."

"Gotcha. Let's move," Zero replied, motioning for his team to follow his lead.

"Right behind ya!" Kid answered.

Zero ran off to the far side of the island with Kid and Norris not far behind. Zero's blonde hair swayed elegantly in the wind as he ran, and he soon disappeared from view as he entered the cave. Kid followed closely behind, making sure to stick close to Zero..her seemingly implied father figure. Norrs, the quiet and dignified soldier, slowly entered the cave, making sure that they weren't going to be ambushed from the rear.

"Alright. Guess that means we have the other end," X muttered, looking back at Alia. " You ready?" X asked.

Alia slowly nodded her head and walked up close to X. The blue hunter made his way across the rocky ground to the cave entrance with Alia right behind him, almost clinging to his arm. As they entered the cave, they both noticed how dark and dank it was. It was very difficult to see anything, and it was deathly quiet, save for one thing: the droplets of water hitting the ground.

"X..this is pretty creepy.." Alia muttered, getting a bit closer to X.

"It's ok..just stay close.." X muttered.

Luckily, the lights on X's armor did illuminate the cave to a degree, making passage a little easier. Because of that reason, Alia wanted to make sure that she was close to X. He was their main light source, after all. X and Alia then heard a loud crash.

"What was that?" Alia asked, looking around the cave.

"It's here..." X muttered, steadying his buster.

Slowly, from the darkness, crept a massive shadowy creature...it wasn't like something was coming towards them, but it was more like the shadows themselves were growing in size. The shadows seemed to be forming into a creature, something diabolical.

"Alia..stand behind me.." X muttered, transforming his arm into a buster.

"No..I'll fight with you," Alia replied, standing next to X.

Finally, the creature became somewhat recognizable. X and Alia could see the outline of another dragon reploid. It was positively huge, despite being eclipsed by the shadows of the cave. It's blood red eyes were glowing brightly and were clearly visible. The dragon had an incredibly muscular body and it simply surged with raw power. It was clearly an engine of destruction.

The dragon's wings were folded inwards to allow it to fit within the cave, and its massive teeth and claws made it appear even more fearsome. It had to be the strongest looking dragon they had come across with ease.

"X...we'll have to attack together if we want to beat this thing.." Alia offered.

"Alright..charge your buster, and aim for its mouth," X replied, his gaze hardening.

The dragon then hurled itself from the shadows, trying to maul Alia and X with a frenzied assault. X and Alia quickly dove out of the way and tried to blast the creature in retaliation. However, their weapons had little effect on the creature's armor. The dragon then wheeled itself around and looked at X.

"Watch out X!" Alia shouted.

The dragon tried to swallow X in one bite, butAlia shot a blast into the dragon's mouth before it was able to consume him. X just stood there in shock for a moment before finally coming to his senses. He looked at the creature intently, and tried to read its moves.

"Alia..when it tries to bite me again, repeat that attack.." X muttered, readying his stance.

"X..but that's insane!" Alia replied.

"Trust me on this.." X answered, his voice surprisingly calm.

The dragon lunged forward again, and its mouth bashed into the wall. As it crashed into the cave wall, a layer of dust and debris was picked up. Luckily, X dove out of the way in time and shot a blast backwards into the dragon's mouth before it was able to hit him. Alia added to that with her own shot, perfectly timed with X's.

The dragon threw its head back and roared violently, trying to soothe the pain it was feeling in its mouth. The dragon then ran down into the deeper recesses of the cave.

"Come on, we have to follow it!" X shouted.

Meanwhile, Zero and his team were entering the other side of the cave. This cavern was lit up thanks to the holes in the roof of the cave, making it easier to navigate. The cavern was pretty dry, but it still had an odd feeling about it.Zero shot a look back at the others.

"Stay close, ok?" he muttered, tightly gripping his beam saber.

"Gotcha..." Kid replied, looking around the cave.

Norris said nothing, but just tightened his grip on his pistol. He too was a bit unnerved by this whole situation. Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound was heard from the ceiling. Zero immediately looked up to see a massive creature descend upon them. Zero quickly dashed out of the way, taking Kid and Norris with him.

The creature landed and smacked the ground with an absurdly loud crash. That's when the reploid's shape became identifiable. It was yet another dragon reploid, and it was certainly one of the largest they have come across. It's body was simply massive, almost taking up the entire cave. It's hard, metallic skin had a white color scheme, and it had dark eyes that easily stood out against the rest of the colors.

It's body was incredibly musuclar, and it's wings were folded inward so it could fit inside the cave. It's jaw had rows of ultra-powerful crushing teeth, and it's claws were almost ridiculously long.

"Oh..god..." Norris muttered, looking up at the behemoth of a creature.

"This may not have been such a good idea.." Kid added, her expression turning dire.

"This is no time to panic! We gotta stay focused!" Zero shouted.

The dragon narrowed its eyes intently at the group and it lowered its massive head. Zero just stared back at the dragon with fire in his own gaze, determined to win the fight on his own. Kid and Norris stood behind Zero, trying to emulate his courage. The dragon then quickly opened its jaw and tried to make a meal of the group, but Zero quickly brought everyone out of the way.

Norris then aimed his pistol and shot the dragon's mouth. The white dragon barely flinched at the bullets, however. Kid then tried her hand by stabbing it with one of her energy daggers, but that didn't do it much good either.

"Norris, Kid...we'll have to pull out all the stops to beat this thing. We can't hold back. Let's just see if this works...Rakuhouha!"

Zero slammed the ground with his fist and a massive shockwave came as a result. The ground shifted as Zero's savage power ripped through it, slamming into the dragon. The dragon roared as its feet were being assaulted by the huge wave of energy, and it almost tipped over. As it did, Kid ran along the dragon's underbelly, cutting wide gaps across it. Norris then aimed for soft spots by its limbs, inflicting more pain upon the massive dragon reploid.

The white dragon then got back up, shook around violently, and then retreated deeper into the cave.

"After it!" Zero shouted, motioning for the others to follow.

Zero and his group chased after the white dragon while X and Alia were chasing after the shadow dragon. But both groups came into contact with each other at the very center of the cave. In that room, half of the area was bathed in light while the other was eclipsed in darkness. It was a large, open area, with enough room for the dragons to even spread out the wings and move about...not a very good sign.

The shadow dragon came from its side while the white dragon came from its side. They stopped just before colliding into each other and just stared at one another for a moment. X and Alia stopped to see what the shadow dragon was up to while Zero and his group stopped to see the white dragon.

"Zero! You guys are alright!" X shouted.

"Heh..guess the other dragon didn't do you in either," Zero muttered.

The dragons then started walking closer to one another..but what was strange was that their bodies didn't collide like any typical physical matter. Instead, they began to overlap. Their bodies shifted into one another, as if the concept of occupying space had no relevance. The dragons seemed to occupy the same space together, and then a bright light shone forth.

When the light subsided, there was one dragon where the two once stood. It was different though; instead of having just white or just black armor, it had swirls of the two colors with intricate designs and a grey base. It had four wings, two tails, massive claws and teeth, and was even more imposing than the two dragons previously.

"Well..I guess there's only one dragon after all.." Zero muttered, looking up at the creature.

X stood in front of the group anda bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"This doesn't look too good...I'll have to end it myself before anyone gets hurt.." X muttered.

X then let out a scream as he was encased in brilliant light. His body began to shift and his was once again covered by his creator's ultimate gift, the perfect armorUltimate Armor. X was covered in bulging, black armor and was surging with massive power. But not even he knew if that was enough.

"I'll have to help you out with that.." Zero muttered.

Zero then invoked his own specialty, his Absolute Zero hyper mode. Zero was then given demonic bat wings and large claws to accomodate his new form. He was also surging with massive power, on par with X. He and X were truly legendary reploids in these forms. Kid, Alia, and Norris just stood there in awe.

"Let's go X!" Zero shouted.

X raised his buster, charged, and let loose asimply massive plasma blast. The gigantic wave of energy ripped through the air and slammed into the dragon's side. The dragon roared and whipped it's twin tails at X, knocking him back into a wall. X braced himself for impact so he could back into the fight.

Zero then flew up to the dragon's face, avoiding being bitten while slashing at its eyes with his powerful claws. The dragon tried to bring its jaws down on the hunter, but Zero simply slammed his feet into the dragon's teeth, knocking them out before it could damage him. X then launched himself in the air and shot the dragon in the back of the head with yet another huge blast.

The dragon roared and slammed the ground with its tails, making a huge shockave. Then, it started to collect energy inward. It's body resonated with a strong glow and it slowly opened it's mouth. X shot a look back at the group.

"Watch out!" X screamed, throwing his body in front of Alia and the others.

The dragon's blast was a massive amount of bright, white light followed by a small black orb. The blast went outward, but then the black orb began to suck things inward like a black hole. X looked back to see that his friends were on the verge of being sucked in.

"No! Gotta think of something fast!" he shouted.

The wings on X's back began to unfold and his body started collecting enormous amounts of energy. He was preparing his most powerful attack, the all-powerful Nova Strike. X hurled himself at the black ball, and it merely flickered out of existence as X collided into it. The hunter continued flying forward with amazing speed and ripped through the dragon's throat, emerging out the other side. Zero then flew over and slammed himself into the dragon's head, knocking it off the body.

X and Zero both landed, heaving breathes. They looked at each other, gave one another a thumbs up, and then reverted back to their normal forms.

"Whew...guess that's over..is everyone ok?" Zero asked, looking back.

Norris, Kid, and Alia all nodded, but were in such a state of shock that they couldn't really formulate a coherent answer.

"I'll take that as a yes..." Zero muttered, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment.

"Well, we have the data chip..that means.." X whispered.

"We're going to face Sigma..we're going to face fate.." Alia answered.


	21. Where Time Ceases

**Mega Man Cross**  
Chapter 21  
"_Where Time Ceases_"  
By MEGAMANX411

X looked at the new data chips he acquired intently. Two from this dragon meant that they were now in possession in atotal of six, making it possible to access the area with Sigma supposedly is. According to Dr. Doppler, they could now input the data from these chips and find where Sigma is hiding. That is, if Doppler was telling the truth. But X didn't have the feeling that he lied.

"Well..I suppose it's time to check the data.." he muttered, handing the data chips over to Alia.

The blonde navigator nodded her head slowly and accepted the data chips from X, and then put all six of them into her personal computer. Suddenly, aflurry of data was displayed onscreen. Theoretical projections and overblown statistics were shown in a variety of graphs, and above the title displayed the word FATE.

"FATE...that must be the actual name of the machine that Sigma plans to use..but look at these statistics! Such power, such technology...it's amazing to think that this could have been created. Seeing as what this is capable of theoretically, I don't believe that we should leave this unchecked," Alia announced.

"Does the data include Sigma's location?" Zero asked.

"Yeah, it does. What's strange though...is that it's not really technically in this world at all. It's not in ours either..." Alia muttered, brushing her hair aside.

"What does that mean?" Norris asked.

"The data chips also allow us to adapt our internal teleportation systems to access the area where Sigma is. But I don't know if we can get back once we arrive. And from the looks of the data...that place isn't part of one dimension or the other. Like the Dead Sea, it is completely unaffected by time," Alia answered.

"But what about Sigma? I mean, what happens if we defeat him? Isn't there a chance that there will be negative side effects?" Norris asked.

"I think that we have to stop that machine either way. We'll risk a lot more just doing nothing," X replied, his eyes narrowing.

"Once we go though..we might not be able to get back.." Kid whispered, tugging at X's arm.

"I'm sorry to involve you in this Kid. If you wish, you and Korcha could stay back. It would probably be better," X answered.

"No..I wanna go with you guys.." Kid replied.

Zero bent down and patted Kid on the head, smirking at her.

"I had a feeling you'd say that. It's good that you could come along. Don't worry, I'll protect you," Zero whispered.

Korcha was standing beside Kid as well, nodding his head in agreement.

"I'll go toocha..." he muttered, almost shaking.

"But ya can't fight!" Kid shouted.

"So? I wantcha...to go with you.." Korcha replied, blushing immensely.

"Alright, but I warned ya," Kid answered, smiling back at him.

"Ok, that settles it. We're going. Everyone...let's go fight fate!" X shouted.

All of the sudden, the data chips began to resonate with the internal workings of all the reploids, and they were all encased in brilliant pillars of light. Each person was bathed in the celestial light, and was slowly lifted into the air. They were each then hurled quickly through space and time to the destination of fate...where Sigma awaited them at last.

They then found themselves in a rather furturistic looking building, much like the buildings in their own world. Sleek machinery covered almost every inch of the room, and there were no windows. It was dark, but the faint light of the machinery around them illuminated the room to a mild degree. Everything about it was somewhat cyrptic.

"I guess..this is it.." X muttered, getting to his feet.

"There's a door,"Alia replied, pointing over to the other side of the room.

"Be ready for anything," Zero added, pulling out his beam saber.

The group slowly walked over to the door, and the door creaked open, revealing an even larger room. X poked his head through first, taking a look around. The next room was absolutley huge, and was easily hundreds of feet tall. There were no windows here either, but the lights scattered throughout the room were sufficient enough. And at the end of the room there was a massive computer which was labeled "FATE."

"FATE...fate alteration and time eloping..." X muttered, reading the acronym off of the machine.

"Is that it?" Alia asked.

"Yeah. If we destroy that, we stop this whole mess," Zero replied.

The group then walked into the room, making their way over to the machine. Suddenly, two figures descended upon them.

"It's...it's you!" X shouted, his mouth hanging open.

Standing before him were Lynx and Harle. However, Lynx was still in the body that he stole from X previously. Lynx just smirked at X and shook his head, and his familiar evil was definitely present.

"I cannot allow you stop this machine," Lynx hissed.

"I'll get through you if I have to," X replied, readying his buster.

Harle then stood in front of Lynx, holding her arms out. Her face was surprisingly determined and hard, which was definitely not normal for her. Her typical arrogant and nonchalant attitude seemed to be entirely gone.

"I won't allow you to hurt Lynx," Harle shouted, her eyes flashing.

X slowly lowered his buster and gave Harle a puzzled look.

"Harle..what...what are you..?"he muttered.

Lynx then pushed Harle aside and rushed at X, slamming his fist into X's stomach. X grunted from the sudden attack and was sent hurdling into the wall. Zero tried to bring his saber down on Lynx, but the enemy proved to be agile enough to avoid it. Alia then blasted him from behind, sending Lynx into the wall as well.

Lynx then looked back at X and smiled evilly. He charged up his buster and pointed it at the ground.

"What's he up to?" Norris asked, aiming his gun.

"We'll just have to take him out before he has a chance to do anything!" Zero shouted, rushing after Lynx.

Lynx then fired at the ground, sending up a massive cloud of dust and debris. The attack made visibility drop for a good portion of time, and when it was cleared, Lynx and X were standing side by side. One was holding the other in a tight bear hug, but they couldn't tell which one was which.

"Hurry up Zero! I've got him pinned!"

"Don't listen to him Zero! I'm X! Don't you trust me?"

"Zero, you know me! Don't be tricked!"

"I would never trick you Zero! Believe me!"

Zero stopped dead in his tracks and his grip on his saber loosened. He didn't say anything, and seemed to be at a complete loss. His eyes flashed with worry and concern, and he frantically looked back and forth at the two X's. Alia then walked past Zero, charging her buster.

"I can tell," she muttered, aiming her weapon.

She fired, and the blast hit one of them full force. He was sent flying backwards, and he even spiraled in the air before slamming to the ground. The figure slammed his fist on the ground, and spat up a little blood.

"Damn! You..." the figure muttered, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"I know who X is. Your appearance can't fool me," Alia answered.

"Alia!" X shouted, getting back to his feet.

"I'll kill you!" Lynx screamed, getting back to his feet.

Suddenly, Harle grabbed him from behind, and held him tight.

"X...shoot Lynx and moi. Zat way, you can stop FATE and Sigma..." Harle muttered.

"Harle..you're on our side?" Kid questioned.

"I'm..trying to resist...the new programming that Sigma made for me...please...kill me before I serve him again. Kill Lynx and moi," Harle begged, tears streaming down her cheeks.

X's jaws dropped and his eyes were filled with a familiar terror as he saw that he had yet another unavoidable murder on his hands. He knew what he had to do, but the problem was the morality and ethics of the situation. What should he do? What could he do? What would be best for his ideals? What would be best for his friends? What would Dr. Light think?

"I..can't do this Harle.." X muttered. "There has to be another way!"

"No..mon X. Please...I cannot hold him much longer.." Harle whispered.

"Let go of me Harle! What would you gain from defying Sigma? You're just a program like me!" Lynx screamed.

"I know...but...I can be happy knowing that I have helped mon X..." Harle replied, a smile appearing on her face.

X clenched his eyes shut and pointed his buster at Harle and Lynx. He turned his head away as he fired, but he still heard their screams as the blast ripped through them. Dr. Doppler's special enhancement made sure that X hit them both. They were completely erased from existence from teh attack. A tear streamed down X's cheek as he looked back.

"Harle..what have I done.." X whispered, lowering his eyes.

"X...Harle gave her life so you could stop Sigma and FATE. We can't let her down now," Zero answered, placinga hand on the blue hunter's shoulders.

X looked back up at the vile machine and cursed. He cursed the fact that he had been fighting for this long because of this device. Sigma not only caused him pain in his world, but in other worlds. There was no end to his malice.

"You've come I see. Trying to stop FATE are you?" a voice asked.


	22. Facing Fate

**Mega Man Cross  
**Chapter 22  
"_Facing Fate_"  
By MEGAMANX411

A figure descended down upon X and the rest. He had the countenance of Sigma, only it seemed impossible to see him again. Seeing his malicious face once again seemed just so unreal. His dark eyes were full of hatred and malice, and the light from the nearby machines were faintly reflected off of his bald skull. His body was covered in thick, dark, hard body armor that made him appear almost like some sort of Demi-God.

"Sigma..." X whispered, his tone traces of both awe and fear.

"X. So it's you," Sigma replied, his feet now touching the ground.

Sigma merely stood still, looking back at X, Zero, Alia, Kid, and Norris with vicious intent. His eyes resonated with that familiar evil; it was almost unbearable. A wicked grin slowly crept onto his face, and a wave of fear came over the group.

"You know X, you really make me laugh," Sigma muttered, his smile growing wider.

X clenched his fist tight. Sigma had made X leave his home with the possibility of no return, he made him fight more, he made him kill...and that's all he had to say? X began to feel sick to his stomach, and he gritted his teeth angrily.

"Sigma...I'm going to kill you!" X screamed.

"That's what I wanted to hear from you," Sigma replied bluntly.

X was immediately overcome with surprise. He lowered his buster as a wave of uneasiness came over him. Zero, Alia, Kid, and Norris didn't dare move either. They had no idea what to say or do.

"You see X...I called you here. I organized this meeting. Or did you really think that you would get the upper hand on me?" Sigma asked.

"But...what are you talking about?" X replied, his eyes widening.

"You still don't get it? When Dr. Doppler was in the service of the version of myself in the other dimension, he created a device that allowed for some contact between dimensions. I was allowed to contact the other me, so to speak. We collaborated on some projects in the event that one of us would die. Because you don't exist in my world, we concluded that the machine would be stored in this world. When the other Sigma would die, I would bring you here through subtle manipulation of a predetermined outcome, or fate. Dr. Doppler thought he was the one guiding you-"

"Wait a minute...Dr. Doppler...so he really wasn't helping us after all?" X shouted, cutting Sigma off.

"Oh no, he tried to. But the best he could do was simply get to come here and try to stop me. Which just happened to be exactly what I wanted him to do anyway. You see X, you and your friends...you came here because you wanted to destroy FATE. In doing so, you have merely been used by it. Now, there will be no chance of you ever leaving. And once I'm done with you, I'll use the FATE machine to erase your existence entirely, and I'll alter the course of everything into my favor. I was always destined to rule, X. It doesn't matter what dimension, what time, or what place...but I will win," Sigma hissed.

X felt like he was just hit in the face with perhaps the biggest revelation in his life. This whole time he was simply being used. As much as he thought he was resisting fate, he was just playing into its hands. He was its toy, its plaything. No matter what he chose to do, no matter what he thought...he was completely bound. X then felt a hand on his shoulder. He slowly turned around to see Alia.

"That's not necessarily true. Sigma, you've always been arrogant in either reality. You never expected X to beat you in the other world. What makes you think you'll win here?" Alia replied, standing beside X.

X looked to his other side to see Zero walking past him. The red hunter gave X a smirk and then gave Sigma a determined gaze.

"Sigma...you're so full of yourself. When will you learn that you've never been right? We beat you before, and we'll beat you now. It's as simple as that," Zero mocked.

Kid followed suit, and pointed her daggers at Sigma.

"Y'know, I've never met ya before. But I don't really like ya anyway. To tell the truth, you come off as a scumbag to me, and I've always hated 'em. Ya think ya can get 'way with all this? Not while I'm around," Kid shouted.

Norris walked up beside X and gripped his pistol firmly in his hands.

"Like Kid, I have never met you sir. But based on what has been said by my associates, I'm afraid that I can't let you get away with what you're planning. I'm a soldier, and as such, I'll fight you until the last breath in my body," Norris announced, full of pride.

Korcha slowly walked up to X, standing behind the group.

"I'm no fightercha like you guys...but I'll supportcha you all the way. I knowcha you can do it!" Korcha shouted.

Sigma just smirked and shook his head in response. To him, this was such a farce. The mere idea of these simpletons beating him in a fight was ludicrous.

"Then face me! Come see how you fare against fate itself, against the very fabric of time and existence. Fate will consume you, and there will be nothing left!" Sigma shouted, his maniacal laughter filling the room.

X raised his buster and fired at Sigma, but the crazed villain merely dashed out of the way. The plasma blasts slammed into the wall with little effect. Alia tried to catch Sigma as well, but he proved to be far too agile for her to catch. Norris' excellent marksmanship didn't prove useful either, because Sigma managed to dodge him masterfully.

Kid and Zero charged Sigma for a double-teamed attack. Kid lunged with her daggers while Zero thrusted with his saber. But amazingly enough, Sigma managed to gracefully dodge each blow and still avoid the blasts from X, Alia, and Norris at the same time. His movements were simply perfect, and he denied every opening to attack him.

"How the hell is he dodging everything?" Zero screamed, trying to hit his foe.

Sigma then grabbed Zero's arm and made him lunge at Kid. Zero's eyes widened as he saw that he lost control of his saber...and he was even more horrified when he saw where it was going. Kid tried to avoid the attack in time, but unfortunately, Sigma's attack was too quick. Zero's saber pierced Kid's chest, and the saber continued to go in deeper.

Zero just stood there in awe, watching Kid with terrified eyes. She looked up meekly as Zero as some blood trickled down her mouth. Alia, X, and Norris were equally shocked. They stopped shooting at Sigma, and their mouths dropped in awe.

"Oh my god...that...that couldn't have happened!" Alia shouted.

"Why did this have to happen...?" X added.

"Zero..." she whispered, falling backwards.

"Kid...! Kid, don't die!" Zero screamed, holding Kid in his arms.

The little reploid girl just smiled faintly at Zero. Some blood trickled down her mouth as she tried to speak, and her eyes were glassy.

"Zero...I don't have a family...but...you're like..." Kid whispered.

"Kid, don't talk! Korcha, help her!" Zero screamed.

Korcha instantly rushed over, and was trying to help Kid as well. He looked down at her with sad eyes, and tears began to collect and run down his cheeks.

"You're...like a dad to me..." Kid added, her eyes closed.

Zero slowly stood up, his eyes closed and his fists clenched. He shot a look at Korcha.

"Hold on to her. You hear me?" Zero asked.

Korcha nodded slowly, but didn't say anything in return. He just grabbed Kid, and ran off to the other side of the room, where at least some safety was offered.

"Sigma...you bastard! I'm going to kill you! Die you son of a bitch!" Zero screamed rushing at Sigma.

Sigma just smiked back at Zero, and was completely unfazed by his fiery rage. He still managed to dodge every attack that Zero made. Every attempt was shot down. Sigma then shook his head, wrenched the saber out of Zero's hands, and slammed his fist upside Zero's head, knocking him out cold. The red hunter hit the ground with a loud thud.

Sigma then rushed at Norris and slammed into him with a reckless dive attack, knocking him out cold. Sigma then tried to smack Alia across the face, but he was stopped by another foce. X managed to get in front of Alia in time to block the attack.

"I won't let you hurt my friends!" X shouted, trying to fend off Sigma's attack.

"You don't have a choice in the matter. Time to accept your fate!" Sigma hissed, breaking X's guard.

X stumbled back, and Sigma slammed against him, knocking him to the ground. He hit the ground with a hard smack, and he looked up lazily at Alia. Alia just stood there in fear as Sigma stared her down. X looked over at Kid, who was still bleeding profusely. Zero was out cold, Norris was down, and Korcha wasn't fit tofight. That just left Alia.

"You're time has come as well girl. Time to join X," Sigma hissed, raising his arm.

Alia just stood her ground, and raised her buster.

"I don't think so!" she shouted, firing her buster at him.

Sigma didn't expect the attack this time around...it wasn't dictated by fate. Something was not right. There was an unknown element involved here that his machine couldn't calculate. He stumbled back as he saw his chest smoking from the blast.

"What the..? You..how?" Sigma muttered.

"I won't give up! I promised to X...that I wouldn't abandon my friends. I won't let you win!" Alia shouted, keeping her buster steady.

"Impossible...the power to control fate and destiny...overcome by a promise? What the hell?" Sigma shouted.

Alia smiled as pride came over her. It looked as though victory was within her grasp. But then Sigma began to laugh. Alia slowly lowered her buster again as a wave of uneasiness came over her again.

"You think this means you have won? Look around you. You're all alone. You may have been able to hit me once...but do you honestly think that means you can beat me?" Sigma mocked.

Slowly, a blue figure rose to his feet, empowered by determination. He stood tall and proud, and his eyes burned with courage. Mega Man X was now ready to fight once more.

"Sigma...I've figured it out," X replied.

"Figured what out?" Sigma asked, sounding unamused.

"How to win," X replied, smirking.

"What?" Sigma shouted, anxiety encroaching on him.

"That promise I made to Alia...I'll do what I can to protect her and my friends. In return I'll let her help me. We help one another, and we share a bond. No matter what your machine tells us...I'll do whatever I can to return home with my friends," X shouted.

"And how do you propse on fighting me, hm? Your friends are all down," Sigma mocked.

"You didn't count on this!" X mocked, charing energy inward.

X suddenly let out a huge scream as he began to collect more and more power. His body glowed with power as he beagn to assemble his Ultimate Armor. But instead of using the energy to power himself, he simply kept charging. The glow around him grew brigther and larger, and X continued to push himself. There were no limits; the power just kept growing. X outstretched his arms and the energy began to run off of him onto his friends.

The energy clouded over them and began to absorb into them. Slowly but surely, Zero, Norris, and Kid opened their eyes. They all stood up and shook their heads, curious as to how they managed to get back up. X was heaving breaths, clearly fatigued from his massive energy transfusion.

"Heh...bet...you didn't count on that!" X mocked.

"I can just beat them again. And you're now tired. What did that accomplish?" Sigma replied.

X charged more energy again. There was no end to his power. It wouldn't deplete, it just kept growing.

"What...but how?" Sigma shouted.

"Attack!" X shouted.

X stretched out the wings of his Ultimate Armor and his body began to be covered in a faint glow. He jumped into the air, and the thrusters on his back began to light up.

"Nova Strike!"

X thrusted himself forward with immense power, and his body was coated with light as he was sent flying through the air. He ripped through Sigma's body, going straight through him to the other side of the room. Alia followed up on his attack by using a charged blast right in Sigma's face at close range. She blasted again and againt, hitting him over and over until his armor was completely charred.

Zero then followed up on that, rushing in for a massive saber combo. He thrusted, swung, and stabbed in a long series of graceful movements. Each passing saber slash was so elegant and fluid, and each slash brought about more and more pain for Sigma. He sliced again and again, and Sigma's innards began to fly everywhere.

Kid went after Zero, lunging at Sigma with her twin daggers. She jumped around with amazing agility and stabbed at Sigma at every turn. He couldn't stop her and frantically tried to catch her. At every second he was being pierced by another dagger attack. After that, Norris hit Sigma square in the forehead with a pistol shot. He then shot him in the eyes and the knees, knocking him to the ground.

Sigma was heaving breaths as he saw his time was coming to an end. Even his beloved machine told him so. It was dictated by fate now. Sigma's innards began to spill out onto the ground and his blood formed a pool around him.

"Damn! I was...going to rule...fate...why did you betray me?" Sigma screamed.

Sigma then looked up in horror as his machine was smashed to pieces. Amidst the haze that followed, Sigma saw the familiar figure of Mega Man X.

"Sigma, you're machine is no more, and you've been defeated!" X shouted.

"Heh...fool. You've messed with the fabric of existence...there will be consequences, don't you see...? You're all...doomed..." Sigma hissed, before finally fading away.

"Doomed?" Alia repeated, sounding worried.

Suddenly, everything seemed to become hazy and fade. It was all so strange. Nothing seemed to make a sound, and movement seeemd to be unrecognizable. Everything began to blend together, like the very fabric of existence was collapsing on itself. X tried to cry out and reach out his hand, but it didn't even make a bit of difference. It was like he was all alone again, trapped in a different existence. Everything began to fade into a deep blackness...


	23. Epilogue

**Mega Man Cross**  
_Epilogue_  
By MEGAMANX411

X slowly opened his eyes. He winced at the bombarding sunlight, and he slowly sat up. He then saw that he was in a bed. He looked around to see that he was now in a building, one he recogized. But how could that be? He had just finished fighting Sigma in that other world.

"Where am I? What happened?" he muttered, rubbing his head.

X shook his head to remove the excess fatigue from his system, and he got to his feet. He then walked into the next room. There was no doubt about it, this was Maverick Hunter HQ. But it was just so unreal. He was fighting Sigma one moment, and now he was back home! X then remembered something very important...his friends.

"I wonder if they're here too?" he asked himself, quickening his pace.

X rushed into the main lounge to see something he never expected. All of his friends, even Kid, Korcha, and Norris, were all there. They were waiting for him.

"You guys...you're...you're all right!" X shouted, his eyes widening.

"Finally woke up, eh?" Zero teased.

"But...what happened?" X asked.

"After we fought Sigma, we all lost conciousness. We then woke up back here, and that's all I can say for certain. But what matters most is that we're back X. Signas knows as well. You should've seen his face!" Zero teased.

"Home...we're really home," X repeated, joy coming over him. "I'M HOME!"

Alia then walked up to X and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh, Alia..." X muttered, blushing.

"X, thank you," Alia replied. "If it wasn't for you, we would've been..."

"No Alia, you don't need to thank me. I should be thanking you," X answered, a smile appearing on his face.

"But why?" she asked.

"If it wasn't for your courage, your willingness to stick to our promise, I wouldn't have been able to continue the fight. I'm amazed at how strong you've become!" X shouted, smiling.

Alia didn't say anything in response, she just smiled back at X.

"So what about us?" Kid asked.

Zero bent down and patted Kid's head. He smirked at her, and gave her his typical arrogant thumbs up.

"I talked to Signas, and he's organized a place for you to stay. You can come visit me whenever you like. How's that sound?" Zero asked.

Kid just smiled brightly and nodded her head. She was almost too happy to say anything, and was on the verge of crying. Korcha stood beside her, sharing in her joy.

"What about you Norris?" Zero asked.

"Me? I think I'll check out a local police department. Maybe they could use a guy like me," Norris answered.

Norris walked off on his own, waving to the others as he walked out the door.

"Goodbye to you. I can't thank you enough for what you've done," Norris added.

"Goodbye Norris!"

"It's hard to imagine that it's all over..." Alia muttered.

"I know what you mean. I have to admit that I've learned some things from our adventure though..." X replied.

"What's that?" Zero asked.

"Well, about fate and destiny. Maybe they aren't as powerful as we think. I think that our promises and wishes are much stronger," X replied.

"I think you're right X, and you know what? I'll never forget our promise," Alia answered.

"Heh, bonds between friends are stronger than any machine or prediction," Zero added, smirking.

The three friends looked at each other, smiled, and embraced one another.

"As long as this bond remains, we'll fight."

Suddenly, an announcement came over the intercom.

"Attention! All Maverick Hunters, dispatch immediately!"

X, Zero, and Alia looked at one another and nodded their heads. It was time to fight again, and they would once again work together, empowered by their bonds. No matter what fate had in store or what plans it had for them, they would resist and carve their own future. They wouldn't just accept what fate dealt; they would fight and earn their future.

The end. Comments are appreciated, and I hope you liked the story!


End file.
